By ANDREW FEEBACK
PORTLAND — It was another rough night offensively for the Southern Wells Raiders as they were shut out by the host Jay County Patriots 47-0.
With a virtually non-existent ground game, the Raiders (0-3) struggled to sustain any kind of drive and never moved the ball beyond the Patriots’ 30-yard-line.
They had a few passing plays that netted first downs, but not much else.
“The kids played hard,” coach Blake Blaker said. “We just have to execute better and get better at throwing the ball. If we can’t throw the ball, they play eight guys in the box and blitz us all night.”
That was exactly what Jay County (2-1) did, holding Southern Wells to minus-three yards rushing on 23 attempts. Nearly half of the Raider rushing plays resulted in a loss of yards.
Southern Wells came up with a fumble on Jay County’s first possession, but then fumbled it right back on the next play.
A.J. Myers’ 29-yard run got the Patriots on the board. His second touchdown run from 10 yards had the hosts up two scores.
It was 21-0 after Grant Wendel returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown.
Sean Bailey threw a 22-yard pass to Carter Fugiett that gave the Patriots a 28-0 lead at the half.
Bailey threw two more touchdown passes in the second half, one to Wendel and the other to Garrett Bennett.
Leighton Brown ran in the final touchdown for the Patriots early in the fourth quarter.
There weren’t many statistical bright spots for the Raiders, although they did commit only two penalties compared to the Patriots’ eight.
Blaker feels his team has made some strides since its opening game, even if it’s not reflected in the scores or stats.
“Our effort level is there,” he said. “In the first week, we talked about mental toughness, and we’ve fixed that. Our guys are playing hard, we’ve just got to get better at the little things.”
Southern Wells will travel to Wes-Del Friday night.
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JAY COUNTY 47, SOUTHERN WELLS 0
At Jay County
Score By Quarters
Southern Wells 0 0 0 0 – 0
Jay County 14 14 12 7 – 47
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
JC—AJ Myers 23 run (kick failed), 8:47.
JC—Myers 10 run (Sean Bailey run), 0:54.
Second Quarter
JC—Grant Wendel 60 punt return (Myers kick), 6:37.
JC—Carter Fugiett 22 pass from Bailey (Myers kick), 1:12.
Third Quarter
JC—Wendel 25 pass from Bailey (kick blocked), 8:21.
JC—Garrett Bennett 21 pass from Bailey (pass failed), 6:42.
Fourth Quarter
JC—Leighton Brown 1 run (Myers kick), 8:17.
Team Statistics
SW JC
First Downs 4 12
Rushes-Yards 23-(-3) 23-157
Yards Passing 54 156
Passing (Comp-Att-Int) 5-11-1 8-11-0
Penalties-Yards 2-10 8-85
Fumbles-Lost 3-1 3-2
Punts-Average 6-25 0-0
Time of Possession 25:18 22:42
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Southern Wells, Bryson Williams 7-14, Robby Freimuth 4-(minus 6), Levon Goodnight 1-1, Levi Blake 2-1, Leeland Goodnight 7-(minus 11), Lyric Maddox 2-(minus 2). Jay County, Sean Bailey 2-9, Leighton Brown 12-69, AJ Myers 5-61, Wyatt Foster 4-28.
Passing: Southern Wells, Freimuth 4-9-0-44, Leeland Goodnight 1-2-10-1. Jay County, Bailey 8-10-0-157, Nicholas Snow 0-1-0-0.
Receiving: Southern Wells, Blake 4-29, Joshua Aulbach 1-25. Jay County, Garrett Bennett 2-43, Myers 1-14, Aiden Phillips 1-18, Carter Fugiett 2-39, Benson Ward 1-17, Grant Wendel 1-25.
