Offensive outburst

PONETO — The Patriots scored 57 points all of last season.

They nearly matched it in the first half Friday, and had one of the best offensive outputs in school history.

Jay County High School moved the ball with ease against an overmatched Southern Wells Raiders squad, registering four rushing and four passing touchdowns en route to a 64-12 thrashing Friday at Southern Wells’ Carnes Field.

“We’ve been trying to do that all year,” Jay County coach Grant Zgunda said of effectively being able to mix the pass and the run. “I thought we took a step forward tonight. Execution-wise, being able to throw and catch and do those things. I thought we did a good job of that.”

The 64 points for the Patriots (2-1, 1-0 Allen County Athletic Conference) are tied for second-most in school history, and the 52-point margin of victory is sixth-largest in school history.

“To be frank, everything was working,” said Jay County senior quarterback Sam Dunlavy, who completed six of his eight pass attempts for 127 yards and a career-high four touchdowns. “Kess (McBride) was running really well. All of our receivers were running really good routes. We were just on it today. We had a good game.”

It didn’t take long for Jay County to jump on Southern Wells (0-3, 0-1 ACAC). The Patriots reached the end zone in just 59 seconds as Quinn Faulkner scored the first of his three rushing touchdowns and four total TDs. He capped the three-play scoring drive with a 38-yard run.

He had a 1-yard score on the first play of the next drive, which started there after Qadon Ferrell blocked a Southern Wells punt.

Jay County made it three-for-three on scoring drives in the first quarter on a Dunlavy-to-Faulkner connection. Dunlavy faked a handoff to the left and bootlegged to the right, finding Faulkner in the flat for a short reception. But the speedster raced up the field, took contact at the 5-yard line and barreled into the end zone as Jay County led 21-0 after 12 minutes.

Dunlavy then had three touchdown passes in the second quarter, finding Justin DeHoff for 20- and 7-yard scores — the first of the sophomore’s career — and a 3-yard strike to McBride for his first TD.

Also in the second stanza, Faulkner scored from the 29 for his fourth and final time reaching the end zone. Faulkner ended with 115 rushing yards and three TDs on just five carries, marking his third straight game with 100 or more rushing yards.

“Compared to last week we just made plays we needed to more consistently tonight than we did last week,” Dunlavy said, referencing the Patriots’ 45-12 loss to Huntington North.

To add insult to injury for the Raiders, Brady Davis scooped a fumble forced by Kadin Ridenour at the Southern Wells 25 and took it to the house. Jay County scored 56 straight points to start the game in just 22 minutes, 41 seconds. Its lone TD of the second half was a 3-yard run from freshman A.J. Myers.

Jay County’s defense was too much for Southern Wells, which didn’t field a varsity team last year, to handle in the early going of the first half. The Patriot defensive line created fits for SWHS quarterback A.J. Wright and his exchange from Devin Tarr. Often the JCHS defense, particularly middle linebacker Ridenour, got to Wright just as the ball did.

Southern Wells had the ball hit the grass eight times, and managed to recover every fumble but the one Davis scored put in the end zone.

“It was pretty easy,” Ridenour said. Fourteen of the Raiders’ 36 rushes went for either no gain or negative yardage. “I think having our nose guard taking the center helped me out a lot. They didn’t expect me blitzing half the time.

“I think our defense was really effective putting the pressure on them. They didn’t expect it because we didn’t put pressure on Huntington North much last week. I think it just crushed down their offense slowly.”

The Patriots’ only blemishes defensively — it allowed 136 total yards of total offense — were the Raiders’ two scoring drives. Late in the first half, Wright rolled to his left and hit a wide open James Foss on a backside fade route for a 65-yard score. Wright also scored on a 10-yard run in the fourth quarter too.

Jay County returns home on Friday 2-1 for the first time since 2018, and it plays host to Class 1A No. 5 Adams Central, which plays third-ranked Parke Heritage tonight at Mt. Vernon.

“Adams Central is going to be a tough game,” Dunlavy said. “I don’t think it’s un-winnable. I think we can win that game. I think this is a really big, an extremely big confidence boost and I think a hard week of practice, a good week of practice and we can go into that game with our heads held high and concentrate on winning that game.”