Costly errors

MUNCIE — Last time the Patriots played Delta, they ended the Eagles’ season with a 4-1 victory in sectionals.

The stakes weren’t quite as high when the teams met up for an early season non-conference clash, which was fortunate for the Patriots, who couldn’t replicate the result from October 2024.

Jay County High School boys soccer was on the wrong end of a 3-1 score when visiting the Delta Eagles on Thursday.

“Two costly errors cost us the game,” said Jay County coach Rodney Reynolds. “It’s what we’re trying to tell them. Errors happen, it’s soccer, we get it, but we have to rebuild and we have to start over. We were right there.”

The Patriots (2-1-1) were in contention until the final moments. Trailing 2-1 with a shade over five minutes remaining in the match, Jay County had a chance to even things up.

After Delta’s Maddox Huffman was whistled for a handball in the box, Jay County sent freshman Jacoby Penrod to the penalty spot to try to score the equalizer. But it wasn’t meant to be. Penrod’s kick rifled off the crossbar, and Delta’s Senad Selimovic scored his second goal of the game moments later to seal the win for the Eagles (3-1).

“Give him 10 of those and he’s hitting nine,” Reynolds said. “I mean, it’s just luck has it, that’s what it is. He’s solid, not worried about it. He’ll bounce back.”

The Patriots gave plenty of reason to believe they can bounce back as a team as well, despite suffering their first loss of the season. Jay County lost its top two goal scorers from 2024, including Levi Muhlenkamp, whose 35 goals were top-five in all of Indiana.

As a result, the Patriots have turned to youngsters like Penrod to fuel the new iteration of Jay County soccer.

“It’s hard,” Reynolds said. “I’ve got three freshmen on the field. It’s not easy for them, especially when you’re seeing teams that have seniors and juniors. They’re playing great.”

While the youth has reinvigorated Jay County, it was a pair of upperclassmen who got the Patriots on the board. With just under a half hour remaining in the opening half, the junior duo of Elias Mueller and Emmitt Reynolds linked up to help the Patriots draw first blood.

Mueller, who leads the team with four goals, pinpointed a feed to Reynolds, who tucked it away to give the Patriots a 1-0 lead.

“I was wide open in the middle and I called for it,” Emmitt Reynolds said. “And it was a perfectly placed ball, and I just put it bottom left corner and put it away.”

The Jay County lead was short-lived, with Huffman and Selimovic scoring in the closing minutes of the first half. But Jay County saw several chances in the second half, especially after a red card to Delta’s Carson Hall put the Eagles a man down.

The match was scrappy and physical throughout, but that was the expectation between the rivals.

“We prepare, this game, to be physical,” Rodney Reynolds said. “It’s going to be physical. They know that, we know that, it’s always a physical game.”

While the precocious Patriots held their ground, they couldn’t quite put it all together on Thursday. However, the team’s inexperience could double as a pathway to a high ceiling.

“As a team, we’re really young, and I still think we got a lot to work on,” Emmitt Reynolds said. “I still think we can compete with all these higher up teams with younger people, it’s just going to take time and teamwork.”

That process will continue later this week, as the Patriots will have a day to lick their wounds before hosting Woodlan to open their Allen County Athletic Conference slate on Saturday.

“We’re going to pick back up,” Rodney Reynolds said. “Heads aren’t down. We got a big conference game Saturday. We don’t have time (to feel down), it’s time to focus, time to get onto the next.”