By RYAN WALKER
Bluffton nearly didn’t come out of its own jungle alive, surviving a scare to Jay County on the gridiron Friday night.
The Patriots (2-3, 1-2 ACAC) had the No. 7 Tigers (5-0, 3-0 ACAC) on their heels for a two-point deficit for the majority of the second half and deep into the fourth quarter. But several key plays on offense, defense and special teams had Bluffton coming away with a 34-25 victory.
Jay County was an upset-minded crew last year as well, falling just 19-7 to a Bluffton team that was also unbeaten and marching to their second-straight sectional. But the Patriots are coached by IFCA Region 5 hall of fame coach Grant Zgunda, who is now 210-75 as head coach.
His unit gave everything Bluffton could handle Friday night and were more than prepared for the task.
“Tough game,” Bluffton head coach Brent Kunkel said. “Jay County’s a good ball club. Coach Zgunda — the guy’s won 250 games in his career. He’s a hall-of-fame coach and an even better guy … His kids played hard. Very physical on the inside and their defense gave us a lot of problems there … (I) feel very fortunate to be able to come out with this win.”
Kunkel’s squad needed to play perfect in crucial moments. They did, whether it was three 2-point conversions to fall short for Jay County, several defensive stops after stalled drives on offense, toe-tap completions at the end of the first half and scoring at the buzzer.
None of those is more important than the other, but the final drive was the grand finale.
Bluffton had the ball at its own 42-yard line with under 2:30 to play. It called for a passing play on second and long that quarterback Axton Beste threw wide of Trey Bustos deep down the field that stopped the clock. It became a third-down situation and 13 yards to go and stopped the clock with 2:18 remaining.
A failure to pick up the first down would give Jay County’s offense one final chance to score down 27-25.
Again, the Tigers elected to throw the ball.
Beste looked to his left, then stepped in that direction. He took a 180 spin around and threw to Cooper Craig, who slipped out of the backfield for a screen. It was dialed up to perfection, drawing several defenders to the wrong side of the field. Craig sped down the right sideline past the first down markers and sprinted to the house for 58 yards. That locked it up for the Tigers.
Kunkel said that they worked on the play all week. That half-back screen hasn’t been used much of at all this season. The two times they ran it this week, Craig picked up significant yards. His three catches went for 85 yards to go along with his 100-yard day on the ground.
But that was not at all what the Tigers needed to win this game.
Before the half, Jay County quarterback Sean Bailey connected with Benson Ward for a chunk play of about 40 yards, later scoring on a six-yard pass to Garrett Bennett with 45 seconds left in the half to make it 13-12.
Bluffton was able to pick up a few first downs on the ensuing frive and move toward the endzone for one last chance.
With 11 seconds to go, A.J. Streveler made a comeback route at the 12-yard line and toe-taped near out of bounds for a first down. Then, on the next play, Beste rolled to his right, seeking any sort of opening with Patriot defenders lurking. He made one last look and spiraled it to Streveler, coming back to him in the endzone and connecting for another toe-tap catch as the clock struck zero. That pushed the lead to 20-12 at halftime.
The two catches created by Beste were hauled in by Kunkel’s star wide receiver and remain another key factor in the game.
“I think when it’s all said and done, after the next hopefully several games this year and then the next year, he will be the all-time best receiver we’ve had in school history,” Kunkel said. “He’s just so talented with his body control, the way he attacks the ball in the air. The way he just constantly just goes and makes plays. He’s a special, special athlete.”
Even with the emotional high of the end of the half, Jay County kept fighting.
It stopped Bluffton to force a punt to begin the third quarter. Punter Abram Gehrett booted the ball away and Patriots’ return man Grant Wendel housed it back for 62 yards.
Again, Jay County failed the two-point try by another stout effort on defense for Bluffton for a two-point deficit.
Both teams’ offenses would stall with punts to follow until late in the fourth.
Bluffton took its time and ended up near the goal line still up by two points. A false start and incompletions forced the offense to throw on fourth and goal at the 12-yard line.
Beste dropped back a few steps and off-platform flung a perfect pass to Streveler, fading on the left endzone for six points.
Jay County took three minutes on the next drive, picking up 10 or more yards on most of its plays and Bailey capped it off with a two-yard keeper. That brought the score back to two points.
But that following drive was Craig’s 58-yard score, shoving the Patriots back down again.
Time after time, the Tigers found ways to keep the Patriots from taking the lead. Even through all of the plays that worked out for them, they found a way.
Not to mention, sophomore kicker Gehrett missed four extra points the prior week. His first attempted kick against Jay County went too low, but coach Kunkel kept giving his first-year kicker opportunities.
Gehrett made every kick after, including the ones to keep the score at two possessions and nine points spread out.
Kunkel attributes it to the mentality of the team, which has fought through inexperience and replaced a heavy dose of talent within his program.
“I’ve been doing this for 21 years, fortunate to be eight years as the head coach,” Kunkel said. “And I tell the guys this might be the most mentally tough team that I’ve had as a head coach. Last year’s was really good — they laid the foundation. This group’s something special mentally, and I haven’t seen them crack yet. There were chances to and we haven’t. So again, that’s a credit to our leadership in our locker room.”
Bluffton will take its unbeaten record to Poneto next week and face Southern Wells.
ryan@news-banner.com
BLUFFTON 34, JAY COUNTY 25
At Bluffton High School
Score By Quarters
Jay Co. 6 6 6 7 — 25
Bluffton 6 14 0 14 — 34
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
B—Cooper Craig 1-yard run (kick failed), 8:04.
JC—Sean Bailey 45-yard pass to Benson Ward (kick failed), 5:10.
Second Quarter
B—Axton Beste 1-yard run (Abram Gehrett kick), 8:37.
JC—Bailey 6-yard pass to Garrett Bennett (2-pt failed), 0:45
B—Beste 11-yard pass to A.J. Streveler (Gehrett kick), 0:00.
Third Quarter
JC—Grant Wendel 62-yard punt return (2-pt failed), 8:59.
Fourth Quarter
B—Beste 12-yard pass (Gehrett kick), 6:08
JC—Bailey 2-yard run (2-pt failed), 3:11.
B—Beste 58-yard pass to Craig (Gehrett kick), 2:06.
Team Statistics
BLU JC
First Downs 18 12
Rushes-Yards 37-140 25-144
Yards Passing 209 134
Passing (C-A-I) 16-24-0 9-20-0
Penalties-Yards 2-10 3-20
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0
Punts-Average 4-37 4-37
Time of Possession 28:55 19:05
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Jay County: Sean Bailey 14-64, A.J. Meyers 8-21, Grant Wendel 1-19, Garrett Bennett 2-11. Bluffton: Cooper Craig 18-100, Axton Beste 16-42, Khamel Moore 1-0.
Passing: Jay County: Sean Bailey 9-20-0 132 Bluffton: Axton Beste 16-23-0 209.
Receiving: Jay County: Benson Ward 2-77, Ben Crouch 2-20, Brady Jetmore 2-17, Grant Wendel 2-14, Grant Bennett 1-6. Bluffton: Cooper Craig 3-85, A.J. Streveler 6-59, Trey Bustos 5-51, Eli Bertsch 1-13, Coleson Teeple 1-1.
