DANE FUELLING
WZBD.com
There was an uneasy feeling about where Friday’s ACAC clash with neighboring Jay County was headed after Justin DeHoff put the Patriots into the lead with seconds remaining in the first half of football every played on the new playing surface, but after the community rallied around its homecoming festivities and crowned a new king and queen, the Starfires sparkled and won a fun ballgame, 23-20.
DeHoff’s touchdown to Sean Bailey in the red zone put Jay County up 14-10 just before half time, but the play of the game wasn’t inspired by a halftime talk from head coach Grant Moser, instead it was the Homecoming festivities that gave the home team a little bit of luck. Ten minutes after being crowned Homecoming King and standing alongside new Homecoming Queen Chloe Summersett, Hayden Brown took off his crown and replaced it with a helmet and then blocked a JC punt, creating a crucial turnover that turned the game around.
Moments later, Colton Bollenbacher punched the ball in from one yard out and the Stars led again at 16-14.
The Patriots did respond, however, as one might expect a growing program to do in a rivalry game and Bailey ran it in from a yard out on a QB keep to re-take the lead for the visitors. Bailey finished the game 4 for 11 for 63 yards and the touchdown to DeHoff.
Needing an immediate response, the Starfires got a nice return from Caiden Neuenschwander to set up the offense on their own 35-yard line. Bollenbacher picked up 38 yards up the middle on the first play of the drive and just two plays later he picked up 20 more to put the Stars inside the 10-yard line.
Coach Moser called the number 22 three more times to get down to the four-yard line and on third & goal, he gave Owen Wanner the option to keep the ball and go play action, fooling the Jay defenders into locking onto Bollenbacher and clearing the way for the winning touchdown.
Bollenbacher finished one of the best nights of his career with 142 yards on 19 carries and two scores.
Wanner was effective in the pocket, going 13 of 23 for 152 yards. He also gained 27 yards rushing.
The Starfires looked good early on the new turf, driving the ball and setting up Jackson Garcia for a 27-yard field goal and then taking a 10-0 lead on a 15-yard score by Bollenbacher.
Jay County answered back, though, using the strong running skills of Bryce Wenk and AJ Myers. Myers ran the ball 33 times for 117 yards and cut the Starfire lead to 10-7 with four minutes remaining in the first half. Wenk picked up 80 yards on 10 carries.