Marentes leads comeback

YORKTOWN — The Patriots were down a goal to start the second half.

Dylan Marentes wouldn’t let them drop this game.

Marentes’ two second-half goals lifted the Jay County High School boys soccer team to a 3-2 victory over the Yorktown Tigers on Thursday.

The Patriots (2-2-2, 1-1 Allen County Athletic Conference) found themselves in a 2-1 deficit going into the second half. They broke through at the 15:68 mark when Marentes first found the goal and tied the game up.

With time winding down, the Patriots were at risk of ending in a draw for the third time this season. Marentes once again came through, scoring the go-ahead goal with just over five minutes left.

The defense and goalie Kaleb Coppock wouldn’t let anything through, earning Jay County the victory. Coppock saved five shots during the game.

Levi Muhlenkamp scored the first JCHS goal at 24:09 in the first half.

Yorktown’s Zach Wright and Ethan Guinn both found the net in the first half as well. Colin Furnish assisted on one of the scores.

Kunkler leads

WOODBURN — Mya Kunkler is getting accustomed to the speed of a varsity match as she led the Jay County volleyball team in kills as they fell to the Woodlan Warriors 25-23, 25-17, 25-22 in an ACAC matchup.

Kunkler attacked the ball 20 times in the match and earned nine kills to only one error for a hitting percentage of 40%. She also led the Patriots (3-4, 1-1 ACAC) with four blocks while Bella Denton and Hallie Schwieterman both added three apiece.

Service errors and Woodlan’s outside hitters were too much for Jay County to handle. Despite the 11 blocks in the match, the Warriors’ hitter tallied 42 kills in the match. Marissa Smith and Lauren Snyder both broke double digits with 12 and 11 kills respectively.

The Patriots struggled to serve the ball, totaling 10 service errors to Woodlan’s two.

The junior varsity fell 26-24, 10-25, 15-11 and the freshman won 24-25, 25-11, 15-11.

In the JV match, Schweiterman and Elizabeth Barnett both had six kills while Lucy Mace had six in the freshman match.

Patriots edged out

Jay County’s boys tennis team fell to its ACAC-foe the Bluffton Tigers 3-2 to open conference play on Thursday.

Jay County (4-7, 0-1 ACAC) swept the No. 1 positions, with Abraham Dirksen putting on a dominant performance in the singles. He quickly put away Anthony Hartman 6-1, 6-0.

In the doubles, Sam Myers and Gage Sims earned a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Kade Abbott and Ben Maggard.

Isaac Miller and Luke Muhlenkamp weren’t as lucky in the No. 2 doubles match. The Tigers’ duo of Coy Lantz and Dane Schlagenhauf took care of them 6-4, 6-0.

Liam Garringer also fell to Bluffton’s Jacob Ribich 6-4, 6-2 in the No. 3 singles.

Eli Dirksen lost a long battle to Nolan Lambert in a match that decided the contest.

Dirksen took the first set of the No. 2 singles 6-3. He couldn’t follow through for the victory, losing the second and third sets 6-4, 6-4.

Patriots fall

ALBANY — Mady Snow returned to form, earning match medalist honors as the Jay County girls golf team fell to the Delta Eagles 201-243 on Thursday at Albany Golf Club.

Snow shot a 46, just one stroke better than Delta’s Bella Brown. Snow’s sole par came on the 410-yard, par-5 third hole. Seven of the remaining eight holes were bogeyed by Snow, with only hole No. 4 getting the best of her.

Both Brooklynn Bright and Meah Devoe’s rounds ended with 63 strokes to take up two more scores. Devoe had shot the only bogey between them, on the 359-yard, par-4 ninth hole.

Rounding out the Patriots’ (2-10, 1-5 ACAC) score was Whitney McIntire with a 71. Brooklyn Zimmerman’s 72 did not qualify for the team score.

Defense can’t finish

Two second-half goals spelled doom for the Jay County girls soccer team that couldn’t respond in a 3-2 loss to the Oak Hill Golden Eagles on Thursday.

The Patriots (2-5-1, 1-3 ACAC) got out to an early lead in the first half. Morgan DeHoff broke the scoring column first, scoring off of an assist from Aixa Lopez.

Later in the half, Molly Muhlenkamp found the net for Jay County’s second goal of the match. The Patriots went into the break with a 2-1 lead over the Golden Eagles.

They couldn’t hold on for the win, giving up two goals to give Oak Hill the lead and the game.

Goalie Angel Clairday earned nine saves in the game while Lopez stole the ball a team-high 23 times.

Runners dominate

BLUFFTON — The Jay County Junior High School cross country teams dominated in a quad-meet with Adam Central, Bluffton and Woodlan on Thursday at Bluffton-Harrison Middle School.

The boys claimed the top three spots, as they finished in first place with 22 points. Adams Central had 63 in second.

The girls claimed six of the top-10 spots to finish first with 25 points. Bluffton was the closest to the Patriots with 49.

Raif Beiswanger crossed the finish line first for the boys at 11:05. Rocky Beiswanger and Sam Wiggins followed up in second and third.

Rounding out the boys were Grady Warvel in fifth and Carson Westgerdes in 11th.

Abby Fifer was the first across the line for the girls, earning second-place with a time of 12:30.

Also scoring were Ava May (fourth), Gracie Rowles (fifth), Brooklyn Byrum (sixth) and Lyla Kunkler (eighth).

Junior High sweeps

The Jay County volleyball team took down RJ Baskett Middle School 25-22, 25-21 on Thursday.

The Patriots (4-0) received a strong defensive presence from both Brenna Ruble and Gabi Petro. Ruble had six digs while Petro tallied five.

Leading the attack was Amelia Heath with four kills. She also had two blocks and two aces.

Kennady Lyons had a strong night serving the ball. She garnered 13 points for Jay County, six of which were aces. She also had a pair of kills and assists in the match.