Bruins blanked

HARTFORD CITY — The Bruins’ formation can be difficult to defend.

With four options out of the backfield to run the ball, if the defense doesn’t pick up who has the pigskin, it could spell trouble.

The Patriots defenders didn’t have that problem in the opener.

Jay County High School’s football team suffocated the Blackford Bruins’ offense to secure a 49-0 season opening win on Friday.

“I thought we played well defensively for the most part,” said Jay County coach Grant Zgunda. “It’s not an offense that’s easy to defend. To be honest, it doesn’t look like it, but there’s a lot going on, so I thought our guys did a good job defensively.”

Jay County’s defense played so well, it only gave up two first downs in the Bruins’ nine drives. The first came on Blackford’s opening drive as a 12-yard run ripped off by Brady Bannister — he finished as the BHS leader with 23 yards on eight attempts — on second-and-10 moved the sticks. The second time came in the first drive of the second quarter as Bannister rushed for 8 yards and Carter Clouse ran 5 more.

Beyond those stretches, the defense locked Blackford (0-1) down. Key plays included a pair of forced fumbles that Austin Schoenlein and Blake Bonifas recovered and a first-quarter interception by Carter Fugiett that led into a quick Jay County (1-0) touchdown.

The biggest defensive play came in the latter half of the first quarter. After a pair of runs by Bannister and an incomplete pass by Nick Ely, the Bruins were about to punt the ball away. However, Lucas Strait found an angle to Ely and got his hand on the ball to block the punt. A quick recovery allowed the JCHS senior to scoop up the ball and take it the final 24 yards for his second career touchdown.

“I’d seen that he kicked a little late,” Strait said. “I went in, not my usual thing, and blocked the ball. I really didn’t think I’d find the ball and get a touchdown off of it but very glad I did.”

The Jay County offense found plenty of success as well, scoring on six of nine drives. (One of the nine drives lasted two plays as the Patriots got the ball with 19.9 seconds before halftime.)

The opening drive was one of the longest, as it took JCHS eight plays to score.

To open the drive, quarterback Sean Bailey looked for a short pass to his left, but Brady Jetmore slipped, ending in an incompletion. On the final play of the possession, Jay County faced fourth-and-goal at their 13-yard-line. After a timeout, Bailey connected with Jetmore in the end zone at 8 minutes, 19 seconds, prompting Bailey to shout “I told you!” to the junior.

“He told me before the game, ‘Man, I want a ball,’” Bailey recalled of Jetmore. “He goes, ‘I want a touchdown.’ I said, ‘I got you. Just get open.’”

Bailey’s night didn’t stop there.

The senior finished 8-of-12 for 140 yards and two touchdowns, including a 42-yard toss to Benson Ward on the first play after Fugiett’s interception.

“(The coaches) trust me a lot and I’m thankful for it,” Bailey said. “I’ve been here for three years now and they’ve taught me a lot. My O-line blocked really well, so I barely had any pressure. … I trust all my receivers. This year, we’ve got like seven receivers that I can throw the ball to whenever and I trust every single one of them.”

The other passing TD came on freshman Nick Snow’s sole competition with 1:50 left in the game. He slung the ball 24 yards to fellow freshman Oak Gaerke Jr.

The Patriots’ ground attack went well too, as Leighton Brown found the end zone for a 6-yard run in the second quarter, while Bailey and A.J. Myers scored rushing touchdowns on back-to-back possessions in the third quarter.

Blackford came into the game after a tough week of practices that forced multiple players to be out with COVID-19. That forced Ely, a career tight end, into the role of starting quarterback and forced coach Randy Sehy to miss the game.

To make matters worse, Blackford lost its top returning rusher and receiver in Carter Clouse before the first Bruins drive could begin. Clouse returned the kickoff from the 12-yard line and brought it forward 15 yards before getting rattled on a hit. He would finish the game with only two carries in the second quarter, going for 8 yards.

The Patriots now have a 14-game winning streak against Blackford.

“Our execution is about where a week-one execution is a lot of times,” Zgunda said. “We’ve got to get better but I can’t complain a lot. … It gives us a lot of things to work on, but I’m proud of the team. We’ll take it and move on.”