Patriots will take on Bulldogs in sectional

The Patriots had to battle to make it to the championship. They just couldn’t quite push past once they got there.

The Jay County High School volleyball team snuck past Wabash 25-15, 16-25, 25-19, 26-28, 15-12 to get to the championship game at the Patriot Volleyball Invitational before falling to the Marion Local Flyers (Ohio) 25-23, 25-8, 25-10 on Saturday.

Bella Denton powered the offensive attack against Wabash, recording 15 kills for Jay County (10-12). Behind her, Maggie Dillon and Mya Kunkler were short of double-digit kills with nine.

Running the Patriot offense, Sophie Saxman tallied 37 assists.

Brenna Haines protected the back row, digging out 30 balls. She also led the team with 5 aces.

Denton and Kunkler tied with seven kills against the Flyers. Saxman was cut down to 17 assists. Haines only dug out six balls.

The IHSAA also released the sectional draw for volleyball on Sunday. In the Class 3A Sectional 24, the Patriots drew the Centerville Bulldogs in their opening-round matchup on Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. at New Castle High School.

A win would advance the Patriots to play the Frankton Eagles on Oct. 14 at 12:30 p.m. The championship will be played later that night at 7 p.m., with the winner of New Castle and Delta.

Patriots get help

The Jay County boys soccer team finished its regular season with a 3-0 win over the Oak Hill Golden Eagles on Saturday.

The Patriots (9-3-2) didn’t score any goals in the first half, but got some help when an Oak Hill (8-7-1) defender passed a ball back to the goalie, who missed the ball resulting in an own-goal.

With 9:37 left in the second half, Dylan Marentes delivered the ball to Cayden Buckland who executed a header for his first goal of the season. 

Jay County then put the game away when Marentes scored his own goal with 4:32 left.

Kaleb Coppock was busy in the goal, saving nine shots from breaking the plane of the net.

With the win, Jay County finishes the season undefeated at home.

Boys finish third

WINCHESTER — The Jay County boys cross country team had three athletes finish in the top 20 to power the Patriots (96 points) to a third-place finish out of nine teams at the Winchester Invitational on Saturday.

The girls were able to field a team, finishing sixth with 110 points. Centerville led the girls with 51 points while Muncie Burris won the boys race with 74.

Joseph Boggs and Alexis Sibray paced the Patriots, both finishing sixth. Boggs crossed the finish line at 18:01.67. Sibray ran her best time of the season with 21:52.39.

The boys also got high finishes from Caleb Garringer and Max Klopfenstien. Garringer finished 11th while Klopfenstein was 19th. 

The final two scores came from Beckett Brandenburg (32nd) and Darren Fisher (54th).

Just outside the top 20 for the girls was Willow Hardy in 23rd. The other three Patriots in the race were Courtney Harris (29), Livia Luzzi (37) and Tina Japaridize (46).

Junior high sweeps

WINCHESTER — The Jay County Junior High School cross country teams also competed at the Winchester Invitational on Saturday, with both teams finishing first.

The girls racked up 19 points to take down four opponents, while the boys totalled 18, beating their sole opponent, Driver Middle School.

The girls took the top three spots, including Abby Fifer finishing first with a time of 12:01.12. Following right behind her in second and third were Jessie Homan and Ava May.

Union City’s Henley Paddock and Madelyn Carrell took up the next two spots before Brooklyn Byrum (6) and Maria Laux (7) rounded out the Patriots score.

The boys also swept the top three spots, with Raif Beiswanger winning the race in 10:40.73. Next up were Sam Wiggins and Rockland Beiswanger.

Abraham Bogue of Driver earned fourth place before Grady Warvel finished in fifth. The final score for Jay County came from Carson Westgerdes in eighth.

Jay can’t overcome

The Jay County junior high volleyball team struggled at the Patriot Volleyball Invitational as they dropped three matches on Saturday.

The Patriots lost to South Adams 25-19, 25-13, Adams Central 25-16, 25-12 and Bluffton 19-25, 25-22, 25-12.

The Patriots had a new leader in kills with Brenna Ruble recording eight. She was also one of two people to block an attack, the other being Amelia Heath. Other players with kills in the matches were Heath with six, Emalyn Homan with three, Kenady Lyons with two and Makayla Bishop, Avery Lykins and Allie Westfall with one each.

Bishop and Lyons both had six assists while Homan had three.

The defensive effort primarily came from Gabi Petro. She protected the back row with seven digs. Peyton Schoenlein (four), Lykins (three) and Lyons (two) also had digs.