Boys title is just as sweet

Winning a conference tournament is hard enough as is.
Claiming the title in back-to-back seasons is more difficult.
Perhaps the most challenging is winning conference tournaments in consecutive years in two (technically) different sports.
Chris Krieg did just that.
In January 2015, the Jay County High School girls basketball team became the first squad from the school to win a conference championship. The Patriots came from behind to beat the departing Leo Lions 40-37 after a potential game-tying shot missed the mark.
It was the second time the JCHS girls had to beat Leo, doing so six weeks earlier during the regular season. That game they won by 48-41 in Portland.
Krieg was the coach.
Like the girls did the year before, the JCHS boys had to beat a team for the second time to win the ACAC tournament championship.
Saturday, Adams Central pushed Jay County to the brink, eight days after losing to the Patriots by 18 in Monroe.
But in overtime, the defensive prowess for which Jay County has been defined for almost the past two decades caused problems for the Jets, and the Patriots shut down an Adams Central offense that was outplaying its opponent for a majority of the game.
The Jets led by seven going into the fourth quarter, scored just three points in that period and was at the wrong end of a 10-3 margin in overtime.
The Patriots won, 47-41, for the team’s first Allen County Athletic Conference tournament championship.
Krieg was the coach.
So it begs the question: which was harder?
“To me, it was harder for the boys to win,” Krieg said Wednesday, reminiscing about his two conference tournament championships. “Look at the girls game last year, Catherine (Dunn) was so dominant. She was head and shoulders better than anyone on the floor.”
Dunn, a 2015 graduate who now plays for Brescia University in Kentucky, scored a game-high 18 points in the championship game, including going 4-of-5 from 3-point range and at the free-throw line.
In winning their first championship last year — they Patriot girls repeated this season by blowing out Woodlan prior to the boys game Saturday — Krieg’s girls squad could rely on Dunn to make things happen, both with her ball-handling ability and with her shooting.
The Patriots won by relying on one player.
Krieg’s boys team this year — although senior Adam Dirksen and Jay Houck combined for 29 and 40 points respectively in the first two tournament games — had to rely on all eight players who touched the court.
“We didn’t have that dominant player and they didn’t have that dominant player on the floor, which made it more difficult for us,” Krieg said.
Kyler Carvel had only reached double figures twice in his career, and he shared the game-high by scoring 12 against the Jets. He also had a steal in overtime that helped seal the win.
Dirksen, who was later named the tournament’s most valuable player, tied Houck with 11 points in the title game.
Jason Schlosser (seven points), Cole Stigleman (five) and Bowen Runyon (one) also scored for Jay County. Everyone needed to contribute, which is why Krieg said this year’s title was more challenging.
It brings up another question.
Which of the two is Krieg most proud to have won?
“I compare them the same,” he said. “They are both great accomplishments.”
A far greater accolade, though, is with Saturday’s victory, Krieg became the first coach in the history of the conference to win back-to-back tournament titles with two different teams at the same school.
“It’s kind of exciting,” he said. “Can’t say it’s all coaching because you have to have the players. From a coaching standpoint you have to have players to win it — kids that listen to you and kids that want it just as bad as you.
“Losing the way they did last year, they wanted retribution.”
They also needed direction, a coach to show them the way and help them through times of adversity against an Adams Central team Saturday that had nothing to lose.
Krieg was that coach.
Two years. Two teams.