Heritage goes heavy

There was virtually no success to be had for Jay County on offense in the first half Friday night.

Even so, it trailed just 13-0 at halftime.

But Heritage, frustrated with having not been able to cash in on a few more first-half opportunities, came out ready in the third quarter.

In the annual battle of the Allen County Athletic Conference’s Patriots, Heritage’s 12-place, 61-yard drive that lasted nearly seven minutes to open the second half put it in firm control as it handed Jay County High School’s football team a 28-6 defeat.

“We just couldn’t get a stop,” said JCHS coach Grant Zgunda of the opening drive of the second half that put the visitors up 21-0. “They’re good. Unfortunately we couldn’t get some scores, otherwise we could have made it really interesting. We had some opportunities. … We didn’t make enough plays. They’re good.”

Leading 13-0, Heritage (8-1, 5-1 ACAC) methodically moved the ball down the field to start the second half, handing the ball to Caleb Abbott on five of the first six plays.

The seventh was a 17-yard sack of Kobe Meyer, but Jay County was called for pass interference on the next play.

Three more runs gave the visitors third-and-7 from the 10-yard line. Meyer found no one open as he dropped back to pass, so he scrambled to his right. It looked as if he was going to run, but he pulled up when he saw Eli Tigulis alone in the back of the end zone. The pair connected on the pass for touchdown and Meyer added a 2-point conversion run.

“I just went to the offensive staff and said, ‘Hey, we’re going into heavy and we’re just going to pound it out,’” explained Heritage coach Casey Kolkman, adding that he was upset his team’s offense in the first half. “Addressing the team, it was like, ‘We’re going to get in heavy and we’re going to go down the field. We’re going to swallow the football and just get a score and go up 20 with a handful of minutes left in the third.’”

It was a rough night for Jay County even before the whistle blew as the home team was called for delay of game prior to the opening kickoff.

Still, the host Patriots got the ball first and earned a first down on a Sean Bailey pass to Justin DeHoff. Bailey tried to hit a deep pass down the left side on the next play, but it fell incomplete. JCHS coach Grant Zgunda was then flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for stepping onto the field as he argued for a pass interference call.

The result was a first-and-25 for Jay County, which ended up punting. The home team finished the first half with just 29 yards of total offense and lost leading rusher A.J. Myers to a leg injury in the second quarter. (Myers spent the rainy third quarter under a blue and white umbrella, unable to return to the game.)

“They’re good, first of all,” said Zgunda in reference to the Heritage defense. “We went from first-and-10 to (first-and-25) … And then obviously A.J. getting hurt was a big factor later in the half hurt.

“They’re a good football team. We knew it was going to be a struggle,” he added, saying his goal was to mix up play calling in an effort to keep the defense off balance. “They’re too good up front to just keep hammering away at them.”

Jay County had an opportunity to respond in the third quarter when DeHoff caught a 46-yard pass despite having a defender draped over him. His catch took the ball to the 3-yard line, but the drive stalled as Bailey slipped while trying a quarterback sneak on third-and-goal from the 1 and then slipped again on the slick surface as he faked up the middle and attempted to run around the left end for what looked like it would have been a wide-open score.

The host Patriots finally got their only touchdown on a 25-yard run by Bryce Wenk — he picked up 46 yards on 10 carries filling in for Myers — at the 7:52 mark of the fourth quarter. But by then it was too late, and Meyer (124 yards passing, 55 yards rushing) eventually took a knee to run out the final minute-plus.

“Things got a little rough tonight offensively,” said Zgunda. “We struggled. We’re going to have to figure it out and hope to get some people healthy and go from there.”

The loss capped a difficult end to the season for Jay County (4-5, 2-4 ACAC), which won its first three games before dropping five of its final six to fall short of its first winning regular season since finishing 6-3 in 2016. It closed with consecutive losses to South Adams, Lapel and Heritage.

JCHS will open sectional play at home Friday against Class 4A No. 5 Kokomo, which is 7-2 after dropping its regular-season finale 34-21 to Lafayette Jefferson.

    Justin DeHoff, a senior and Jay County High School’s leading receiver, finds some room to run during the first half Friday. DeHoff caught four passes from quarterback Sean Bailey for 65 yards, but JCHS fell 28-6 to Heritage. (The Commercial Review/Ray Cooney)