By ANDREW FEEBACK
PORTLAND—After four wide-margin victories to start the season, the Bluffton Tigers got a bit more pushback than expected when they traveled to Jay County Friday night.
The Tigers emerged with a 19-7 win, but had to work hard for this one.
“We started the game great,” coach Brent Kunkel said. “But credit to Jay County. Every time we come down here, it’s something a little bit weird. The band is incredible; it’s like a big-game atmosphere. It’s always kind of a weird game when we come down here. We started great, but it just took one or two plays to get us off rhythm, and we had a hard time getting it back.”
On the first play of the game, Ben Ramseyer intercepted a pass from Jay County quarterback Sean Bailey.
Braxton Betancourt threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Hunt on a fourth-down play to help the Tigers draw first blood.
The Tiger defense came up with a big stop on fourth and short, and a five-yard touchdown run from Tucker Jenkins made it 13-0.
Cooper Craig’s two-yard score extended the lead to 19-0 early in the second quarter.
After a short punt by the Tigers, the momentum started to shift.
Jay County (3-2) had the ball for nearly the final six minutes of the half despite starting near midfield, and a costly roughing the passer penalty on fourth down was followed by a four-yard touchdown pass from Bailey to Rhysin Blowers.
When the Tigers turned the ball over on downs to begin the second half after an unsuccessful fake punt, the Patriots were suddenly a pretty confident bunch.
Some back-breaking penalties also made the second half a bit more difficult for Bluffton.
A pass interference call on third and nine gave the Patriots a first down. A flag for unsportsmanlike conduct on fourth and short also resulted in a first down.
The defense stiffened and forced a turnover on downs, only for the offense to sputter and punt it right back to the Patriots early in the fourth.
On a third and five play, the Tiger defense poured into the backfield and snuffed out a running play for a four-yard loss.
But another flag was thrown for unsportsmanlike conduct, and the defense had to stay on the field.
Bluffton forced another turnover on downs and took over at its own 42-yard-line with 6:12 to play. The offense finally started to move the ball and never gave it back.
“Our defense did a phenomenal job,” Kunkel said. “It took (Jay County) seven plays from the five-yard-line to get their one touchdown. There’s some things we’d like to take back; we’ve got to be more disciplined in what we do.”
With the win, Bluffton is 5-0 for the first time since 1982.
“This was a grind tonight, and we knew it would be a grind coming in,” Kunkel said. “We’re kind of where we thought we could be, but we’ve got to get a whole lot better coming down the stretch.”
Bluffton will host Southern Wells on Friday night.
sports@news-banner.com
BLUFFTON 19, JAY COUNTY 7
At Jay County
Score By Quarters
Bluffton 13 6 0 0 –19
Jay County 0 7 0 0 – 7
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
B—Andrew Hunt 15 pass from Braxton Betancourt (Yaroslav Serdiuk kick), 7:52.
B—Tucker Jenkins 5 run (kick failed), 1:11.
Second Quarter
B—Cooper Craig 2 run (run failed), 9:37.
JC—Rhysin Blowers 4 pass from Sean Bailey (AJ Meyers kick), 0:13.
Third Quarter
No scoring
Fourth Quarter
No scoring
Team Statistics
BLU JC
First Downs 18 9
Rushes-Yards 38-209 29-45
Yards Passing 50 37
Passing (C-A-I) 8-16-0 2-16-1
Penalties-Yards 8-78 8-45
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Punts-Average 2-26 2-32
Time of Possession 25:37 22:23
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Bluffton, Tucker Jenkins 15-83, Cooper Craig 16-81, Braxton Betancourt 5-45, Andrew Hunt 1-1. Jay County, Bryce Wenk 5-28, AJ Meyers 18-21, Sean Bailey 5-4, Justin Dehoff 1-(minus 8).
Passing: Bluffton, Betancourt 8-16-0-50. Jay County, Bailey 2-16-1-37.
Receiving: Bluffton, Hunt 4-40, Brody Lewis 1-7, AJ Streveler 3-3. Jay County, Benson Ward 1-33, Rhysin Blowers 1-4.
