February 11, 2023 at 5:19 a.m.
Patriot payback
JC avenges one-point loss on Bogenschutz bucket
Patriot payback
The visiting Patriots drove the baseline and got a 3-pointer from the left corner to take the lead with 7.9 seconds left.
Host Patriot fans couldn’t help but feel some déjà vu from exactly one month earlier, when a late 3-pointer put their team out of the Allen County Athletic Conference Tournament in the opening round.
Jay County High School coach Jerry Bomholt says that wasn’t on his mind.
“When it went in, my only thoughts … were let’s get a basket to win it,” Bomholt said.
They did.
Blake Bogenschutz’s put back of a Josh Dowlen miss with 1.4 seconds left lifted the Jay County Patriots to a 45-44 victory over the visiting Heritage Patriots in the second one-point game the two teams have played this season.
“It was just a surreal moment,” said Bogenschutz, who let out a roar as he was mobbed by his teammates after hitting the game-winner. “I mean, to win the conference championship on that bucket, it’s going to be a moment I’m going to remember my whole life.”
The victory earned Jay County a share of the ACAC regular-season title with a 5-1 record, tied with Adams Central, while Heritage dipped to 4-2.
In another back-and-forth game between the two sets of Patriots, JCHS trailed by one at halftime, pushed to an eight-point advantage in the third quarter, fell behind early in the fourth and then took a 43-41 lead when Abraham Dirksen split a pair of free throws with 35.2 seconds remaining.
Heritage (10-9) worked for an open look on the opposite end, with Kobe Meyer — the hero of the first meeting — getting the ball in the right corner.
This time he didn’t shoot, instead driving the baseline and firing a pass to Landon Lybarger in the left corner.
The sophomore knocked down the triple for a one-point lead.
The ensuing play was set up for Jay County to get the ball to the speediest player on the team — Dowlen — let him push it up the floor and find Dusty Pearson in the paint. But when the ball got tipped away, it led to a mad scramble down the right sideline.
Dowlen still got control, but with D’Vontaye Washington in his face he was left to fling the ball in the general direction of the basket.
Bogenschutz was there.
The senior snagged the ball out of the air and put it back up and in for the win.
“I knew they were all going to collapse on Josh if he got the ball,” said Bogenschutz. “And I just went to the back side. I was going to be there if he missed it. …
“I looked at the clock when I was running down the court and it said about three and a half seconds. So when I caught the ball I just knew I had to get it up.”
While the clock ran out after the shot, the officials put 1.4 seconds back on it.
Meyer threw a long pass in the direction of Washington on the final opportunity for Heritage, but Jay County’s Bennett Weitzel was able to knock it away and time expired.
“We got them once. They got us once,” said Heritage coach Adam Gray, a 2009 Jay County High School graduate whose team won the first meeting 29-28 on Jan. 10 when Meyer hit a couple of 3-pointers in the final minute to erase a five-point deficit. “We’ve been on the fun side of this. Now we’re on the not so fun side of it.”
Jay County’s late heroics this time overcame 10 Heritage 3-pointers, five of which came as part of Luke Saylor’s 19-point effort.
Dowlen’s 14 points paced the home team, while Bogenschutz’s last shot gave him 12 and Pearson finished with 11. Pearson also grabbed seven rebounds, and Dowlen and Dirksen had five apiece.
The win was the sixth in the last seven games for JCHS and brought its record to .500 — 8-8 — for the first time since sitting at 1-1 in early December.
“The difference between this team and the team early in the season is now they think they can win,” said Bomholt, whose team at one point lost four in a row. “And they may not win all the time, but they sure think they can.”
Junior varsity
A dominant first quarter put Jay County in control and it pulled away from Heritage in the second half for a 59-34 victory.
The host Patriots rolled out to a 17-4 lead after the opening period. The advantage slipped slightly to 11 points at halftime, but JCHS outscored heritage 33-19 in the second half for the final margin.
Trevin Dunnington’s dozen points led Jay County, with Wes Bihn and Levi Muhlenkamp also reaching double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Parker Nichols added eight points, including a three-quarter court 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer.
Heritage got nine points apiece from Lantae Cassell and Noah Redman.
Host Patriot fans couldn’t help but feel some déjà vu from exactly one month earlier, when a late 3-pointer put their team out of the Allen County Athletic Conference Tournament in the opening round.
Jay County High School coach Jerry Bomholt says that wasn’t on his mind.
“When it went in, my only thoughts … were let’s get a basket to win it,” Bomholt said.
They did.
Blake Bogenschutz’s put back of a Josh Dowlen miss with 1.4 seconds left lifted the Jay County Patriots to a 45-44 victory over the visiting Heritage Patriots in the second one-point game the two teams have played this season.
“It was just a surreal moment,” said Bogenschutz, who let out a roar as he was mobbed by his teammates after hitting the game-winner. “I mean, to win the conference championship on that bucket, it’s going to be a moment I’m going to remember my whole life.”
The victory earned Jay County a share of the ACAC regular-season title with a 5-1 record, tied with Adams Central, while Heritage dipped to 4-2.
In another back-and-forth game between the two sets of Patriots, JCHS trailed by one at halftime, pushed to an eight-point advantage in the third quarter, fell behind early in the fourth and then took a 43-41 lead when Abraham Dirksen split a pair of free throws with 35.2 seconds remaining.
Heritage (10-9) worked for an open look on the opposite end, with Kobe Meyer — the hero of the first meeting — getting the ball in the right corner.
This time he didn’t shoot, instead driving the baseline and firing a pass to Landon Lybarger in the left corner.
The sophomore knocked down the triple for a one-point lead.
The ensuing play was set up for Jay County to get the ball to the speediest player on the team — Dowlen — let him push it up the floor and find Dusty Pearson in the paint. But when the ball got tipped away, it led to a mad scramble down the right sideline.
Dowlen still got control, but with D’Vontaye Washington in his face he was left to fling the ball in the general direction of the basket.
Bogenschutz was there.
The senior snagged the ball out of the air and put it back up and in for the win.
“I knew they were all going to collapse on Josh if he got the ball,” said Bogenschutz. “And I just went to the back side. I was going to be there if he missed it. …
“I looked at the clock when I was running down the court and it said about three and a half seconds. So when I caught the ball I just knew I had to get it up.”
While the clock ran out after the shot, the officials put 1.4 seconds back on it.
Meyer threw a long pass in the direction of Washington on the final opportunity for Heritage, but Jay County’s Bennett Weitzel was able to knock it away and time expired.
“We got them once. They got us once,” said Heritage coach Adam Gray, a 2009 Jay County High School graduate whose team won the first meeting 29-28 on Jan. 10 when Meyer hit a couple of 3-pointers in the final minute to erase a five-point deficit. “We’ve been on the fun side of this. Now we’re on the not so fun side of it.”
Jay County’s late heroics this time overcame 10 Heritage 3-pointers, five of which came as part of Luke Saylor’s 19-point effort.
Dowlen’s 14 points paced the home team, while Bogenschutz’s last shot gave him 12 and Pearson finished with 11. Pearson also grabbed seven rebounds, and Dowlen and Dirksen had five apiece.
The win was the sixth in the last seven games for JCHS and brought its record to .500 — 8-8 — for the first time since sitting at 1-1 in early December.
“The difference between this team and the team early in the season is now they think they can win,” said Bomholt, whose team at one point lost four in a row. “And they may not win all the time, but they sure think they can.”
Junior varsity
A dominant first quarter put Jay County in control and it pulled away from Heritage in the second half for a 59-34 victory.
The host Patriots rolled out to a 17-4 lead after the opening period. The advantage slipped slightly to 11 points at halftime, but JCHS outscored heritage 33-19 in the second half for the final margin.
Trevin Dunnington’s dozen points led Jay County, with Wes Bihn and Levi Muhlenkamp also reaching double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Parker Nichols added eight points, including a three-quarter court 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer.
Heritage got nine points apiece from Lantae Cassell and Noah Redman.
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