Two points short

First and goal from the 1 — no points.

Two unsuccessful point-after-touchdown attempts.

Five turnovers.

Jay County High School’s football team did a lot right Friday, including stifling the Lapel Bulldogs’ offense for most of the night. But more missed opportunities and miscues left them short of a Senior Night win as they fell 14-12.

“Really, we scored the same touchdowns. Missing the extra point and then you’re being the sticks. We almost get it in down there. There’s just so many plays like that in our season so far, and in this losing streak, there’s just too many to count,” said JCHS coach Grant Zgunda, whose team has now dropped five straight. “We’ve gotten better in a lot of areas. But these penalties and turnovers and things like that, they’re just killing us.”

Even after being stopped at the goal line late in the first half and fumbling to set up Lapel’s second touchdown late in the fourth quarter, the Patriots (2-6) had a chance. Trailing 14-6, quarterback Sean Bailey ran right for a first down, turned the corner, zoomed down the sideline and then cut back toward the center of the field in the 15 yards as he outran the defense for a 59-yard touchdown.

Trailing by two, Jay County lined up for a 2-point conversion try. Bailey faked a handoff up the middle and then spun to his right, sprinting toward the pylon. But a couple of Bulldog defenders were able to push him out of bounds just before the goal line.

The Patriots got the ball one more time after Lucas Strait blocked a punt with 1:26 to go. But Bailey’s pass deep down the right sideline to Grant Wendel was tipped by Marcus Page and then picked off by Reed Hamilton. The sophomore started to return the ball but then smartly went to the ground at the urging of senior Rylie Hudson and Lapel was able to kneel out the time remaining.

“I thought the D-line played well,” said Lapel coach Tim Miller, whose squad stopped a three-game losing streak to improve to 5-3. “Linebacker-wise, Jayden Lindsey and Isaiah Young, those two just fly to the football. And our secondary has been rock solid getting us the ball off turnovers all season.”

Points were at a premium as Jay County gained 222 yards but was hurt by turnovers and the goal-line stop while the Patriots limited Lapel to 138 yards of offense. (Both teams were plagued by severe penalty problems, with the former flagged eight times for 85 yards and the latter 10 times for 80 yards.)

Lapel’s first score was set up by a 32-yard heave from Devin Craig to Jaxson Cripe after Craig dropped the shotgun snap. Craig scored on a 1-yard run four plays later.

It’s other score was an 11-yard fade from Craig to Cripe two plays after a Patriot fumble.

After getting blanked in the first half, Jay County marched down the field to start the second half with A.J. Myers capping an 8-play, 70-yard drive with a 3-yard scoring run. But his low extra-point kick was blocked at the line to leave the score at 7-6.

Bailey’s long run — it was part of a 134-yard night for the quarterback on the ground — accounted for the other TD.

But the Patriots were left to lament missed opportunities again, as well as the impact of five turnovers.

“Those things happen, but it’s unfortunate,” said Zgunda, whose team gave the ball away on two fumbles and three interceptions. 

“And they just seem to happen at bad times for us the last few weeks. But we’re going to move on. That’s all we can do now.”

Jay County held the ball for the bulk of the second quarter, taking it with 11:55 on the clock and running 20 plays — it was assisted by a roughing the kicker penalty — to get to first-and-goal at the 1-yard line. Bailey went forward on the first play but came up just short of the goal line. Runs on second and third downs went backward, and Bailey was picked off in the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 6 with 1:15 to go.

“We just made a couple mistakes there,” said Zgunda, while reluctant to put too much focus on the series. “That one’s similar to last week with South Adams. We’ve got to have those.”

The Patriot defense limited Lapel to 32 rushing yards on 22 attempts. Those numbers were helped by four sacks of Craig, three of which came from senior Isaac Dues.