D strong in defeat

WOODBURN — The Warriors were averaging more than 45 points per game.
The Patriots defense held them to less than half that. And all of those points came in the second quarter.
Jay County High School’s football team gave up three scores in less than nine minutes but held strong for the other three quarters in a 21-0 defeat Friday night to the Class 2A No. 4 Woodlan Warriors. “I’m very pleased with how three quarters of that game went,” said JCHS coach Tim Millspaugh, whose team fell to 2-4 on the season and 1-3 in the Allen County Athletic Conference. “We talk to our kids all the time about attitude and effort ... they showed that the entire game.”
After failing to score a point in the opening quarter, Woodlan, which put up 42 points in the first half last week against Southern Wells, scored on the first play from scrimmage in the second on a 1-yard run by Mitchell Van Brocklin. Quentin Garber’s extra point made it 7-0 Woodlan.
The scoring drive for Woodlan (6-0, 4-0 ACAC) was set up when the Patriots botched the snap on a punt and Donald Guerrant fell on the loose ball for the game’s first turnover.
Jay County tried a halfback pass on its ensuing drive, and Guerrant intercepted Bryan Stancliffe’s pass and returned it to the Jay County 25-yard line. Five plays later, Woodlan quarterback Justin Durkes connected with Trevon McCarter for a 2-yard touchdown pass.
Woodlan forced the Patriots to a three-and-out on their next drive, and Durkes took a shovel pass from McCarter around the left side and went untouched for a 41-yard score with 3:38 left in the half. The Warriors got the ball to start the third quarter, and coach Sherwood Haydock opted to go more for a power running attack rather than a single-back, spread look.
That’s when VanBrocklin, a 6-foot, 2-inch, 240-pound bruiser plowed through the Patriot defense. The senior, who only had 52 yards on five carries in the first half, racked up 74 yards on 15 rushes after halftime. He finished with 126 yards. And despite being pushed back nearly every time Van Brocklin carried the ball, when Haydock took him out of the game the Patriots’ defense was able to force a turnover on downs.

On its first drive of the second half, Woodlan was facing fourth-and-1 from the Jay County 33 yard line. Running back Jeramiah Cassell was stopped in the backfield to give the ball to the Patriots. Woodlan’s next drive stalled at the Patriots’ 25-yard line after a missed field goal. Each of the next two possessions for the Warriors ended without points.
“With them getting the ball first (in the second half) and being down 21-zip ... for us to get in some fourth downs and stop them, it is tremendous,” Millspaugh said. “I am very proud of those kids and how they competed.”
Jay County’s offense was poised to score on its opening drive, when it used a steady mix of freshman Ryan Schlechty, sophomore Cole Stigleman and senior Levi Hummel in the backfield. The Patriots got the football at their own 41-yard line and marched down the field to the Woodlan 3.  Stigleman was stopped on back-to-back plays at the line of scrimmage, and Hummel gained 1 yard on third-and-goal.
“The kids did a great job of sustaining blocks and hiding the football,” Millspaugh said. “To drive the ball all the way down is great. We chewed up a ton of time.”
Two yards away from the end zone, quarterback Holton Hill rolled to his right on fourth down and fired a pass through a small opening in the Warriors’ coverage that hit off Schlechty’s chest.
Three of Hill’s 13 pass attempts were dropped.
“The one thing, and that’s a tight window, but we have to catch the football,” Millspaugh said. “I’m not being critical of any one particular kid, if we could have punched that in it would have been a big deal.”
Hummel led the Patriot offense with 71 yards on 15 carries. Stigleman and Schlechty each had 23 rushing yards, with Stigleman hauling in three passes for 29 yards. Aaron Neal had four receptions for 59 yards.
Millspaugh noted that, despite the loss, he and his coaching staff left the field happy. Aside from a few remarks about the second quarter, the post-game talk was mostly positive — alluding to the fact their defense had kept a high-powered offense to just 21 points.
“The only thing I am concerned about is attrition,” Millspaugh said. “We got beat up pretty good on both sides of the ball. Some guys got some time tonight that normally don’t.”