JCHS girls claim ACAC title

BLUFFTON — On Oct. 5, the Patriots picked up a pair of victories to get them rolling into the postseason.

One week later, the girls repeated, giving them some more momentum for the sectional.

The Jay County High School girls cross country team earned the Allen County Athletic Conference championship title on Saturday by 11 points, while the boys finished third in the field of 7.

The girls' score of 49 was enough to edge out Adams Central (65), while the boys finished with 90, falling behind host Bluffton (38) and South Adams (85).

Abby Fifer paced the girls to earn a spot on the first-team All-ACAC with a time of 21 minutes, 14.2 seconds.

The other four girls to score made the second team All-ACAC, all finishing consecutively from ninth to 12th. Ava May crossed the line first in 21:43.2, followed by Jesse Homan (21:49.5), Alexis Sibray (21:51.0) and Brooklynn Byrum (22:19.0).

Caleb Garringer (16:41.7) and Dash Thacker (16:47.4) both claimed spots on the first team All-ACAC with fifth and sixth-place finishes.

Rounding out the score were Joseph Boggs (18:00.2 – 15th), Dougie Cox (18:57.7 – 27th) and Beckett Brandenburg (19:58.0 – 37th).

Patriots get Braves

The Jay County football team learned they will be traveling to Bellmont in two weeks when the IHSAA released the football sectional tournament brackets Sunday evening.

The Class 3A Sectional 28 game between Jay County and Bellmont will be played in Decatur on Oct. 25 at 7 p.m.

The Patriots (2-6) got its best matchup as the Braves (0-8) have yet to crack into the winning column this year and have been outscored 433-30. Their closest game has been a 39-point loss to Heritage in week No. 1.

A victory against Bellmont would bring the Patriots back home to Portland for a matchup against the winner of Norwell (2-6) and No. 10 Bishop Luers (5-3).

In the bottom half of the bracket, Heritage will travel to Delta and Oak Hill will face off against No. 2 Mississinewa. Heritage (7-1) and Mississinewa (8-0) are favored to win their games to set up a semifinal between the two teams with the highest sagarin ratings in the sectional.

Kaup paces

COLDWATER, Ohio — Joelle Kaup had the highest finish of the Fort Recovery cross country teams on Saturday in the Midwest Athletic Conference Championships hosted by Coldwater.

Kaup’s 12th-place finish in 20 minutes, 27.55 seconds led the girls team to sixth place out of nine teams. The Tribe finished with 137 points, while perennial state powerhouse Minster won the meet with 30.

Versailles took the top spot in the boys race with 26, while the Indians fell to ninth of 10 teams with 229.

Following Kaup was Riley Heitkamp (21:34.1) in 25th, Makenna Huelskamp (21:41.24) in 28th, Maddie Heitkamp (22:19.72) in 39th and Anna Roessner (22:27.96) in 42nd.

Reese Diller’s 26th-place finish in 17:51.97 topped the boys team.

Making up the rest of the team score were Evan Evers (19:21.56) in 64th, Russell Hart (19:41.69) in 69th, Evan Diller (19:59.87) in 73rd and Milo Filey (20:23.47) in 79th.

Spikers finish strong

LIBERTY — The Jay County volleyball team finished the regular season strong with a trio of wins and only one loss at Union County on Saturday.

The Patriots started the day with a 25-12, 25-20 sweep of host Union County. Eight kills from Hallie Schwieterman and six blocks, three from Elizabeth Barnett, powered the win for Jay County (14-12).

JCHS didn’t manage a sweep of Whiteland, but still came out on top 15-25, 25-15, 15-4. Maria Hemmelgarn put a lot of work into the match, gathering seven kills and four blocks.

Jay County swept its third match of the day 25-12, 25-20 against Alexandria-Monroe. Hemmelgarn again led the attack at the net with seven kills, while Mya Kunkler and Brenna Schmiesing led the defensive effort at the net with five and three blocks, respectively.

Seton Catholic took down Jay County 27-25, 25-23 in the final match of the regular season. Despite the loss, Schwieterman and Barnett put in a solid offensive effort with eight and seven kills, respectively.

The Patriots next match will come on Oct. 19 in the sectional semifinal against Connersville at 11 a.m. hosted by New Castle.