Jimtown High School

Jimmies Tool Kit Not Deep Enough By Red Williams Free Lance Sportswriter ELKHART – In the words of Jimtown Coach Cody Vincent, the Jimmies “… ran out of gas.” Jimtown High School’s football squad opened its new season by falling short of visiting rival NorthWood, 34-12, Friday night at Knepp Field. A near-capacity crowd was on hand for the annual Doc Abel Game on a warm summer evening. “NorthWood’s got a great program with great coaching,” Vincent said, “and we just plain ran out of gas. But we’re going to keep developing.” Vincent was encouraged by the way his team responded. “It was a chess match for a while,” he said, as the Jimmies put together two long drives in the first half, but were checked by the Panthers’ defense and couldn’t muster enough oomph to cross the goal line. NW coach Nate Andrews said, “Jimtown did a great job of taking the air out of the ball. We only got two possessions in the first half. They threw a lot of wrinkles at us to keep us on our toes.” Jimtown quarterback Mason Armstrong mixed the plays well in the Jimmies’ opening drive as they marched from their own 20 yard line deep into Panther territory, eating up nearly six minutes on the clock. Ty Zartman had runs of six and 12 yards in the attack, as the Jimmies reached the NW 21. “We just couldn’t finish,” Vincent bemoaned. With a fourth-and-five situation, Vincent called for a pass to Cooper Dillenbeck in the end zone that just missed, so the Panthers took over on downs. NW’s new quarterback, Micah Jarrell, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, showed a lot of poise for his first varsity start. The Panthers’ scoring drive started with a 22-yard scamper by Jarrell and ended with a 15-yard counter run by Landon Perry to reach pay dirt with 2:47 on the clock. Dominic DeFreitas added the first of four point-after kicks, and NW was off to the races. The Jimmies responded with another long drive that ate up 8:28 on the clock, this time reaching the NW 5. A fourth-down pass from Armstrong to Jack Kite slipped through his fingers in the end zone, so once again the Panthers foiled the Jimmy assault. NW put together its own long drive in response, moving the ball 95 yards with Jarrell taking the ball across the goal line from the one with 0:00 showing on the clock on fourth down. Jarrell ran for 33 yards in the march and passed for another 51. A bad snap from center flew over the kicker’s head, negating NW’s PAT attempt. To make matters worse, Jimtown had to kick off to begin the second half, and the Panthers immediately put their third touchdown on the board at 10:09 on a 10-yard pass from Jarrell to Jeff Eash. Eash was a thorn-in-the-side all evening for the Jimmies. The 5-8 junior rambled for 171 yards in 22 carries. A 38-yard break-away in the fourth period and another for 17 convinced Vincent his defense was running out of gas. “We felt at half-time we could have been in front 14-13,” he said, “but we just couldn’t finish. We moved the ball well, and the O-line was great. And Mason did a great job.” Jimtown finally got on the scoreboard with 11:10 left in the game on a six-yard dash by Xander Hummel. The TD was set up by a 53-yard rumble by Ty Zartman to the NW six. Zartman rushed for 103 yards in 14 carries for the game. The Jimmies scored again in the waning moments of the game on a 13-yard pass to Dillenbeck. It was an interception by Dillenbeck and 42-yard return that set up the score. “We got a little sloppy in the second half,” Andrews said. Jarrell’s errant pass into Dillenbeck’s arms was the only turnover in the game. The Jimmies get little respite. They will tangle with another neighborhood rival, Concord’s Minutemen, next Friday, also at home. Concord knocked off Elkhart in its opener, 14-13. SCORING Score by Quarters Final Team 1 2 3 4 Northwood 7 6 14 7 34 Jimtown 0 0 0 12 12 Scoring Plays NW – Landon Perry 15 run (Dominic DeFreitas kick) NW – Micah Jarrell 1 run (run failed) NW – Jeff Eash 10 pass from Jarrell (DeFreitas kick) NW – Deondray Monroe 29 pass from Jarrell (DeFreitas kick) J – Xander Hummel 6 run (pass failed) NW – Perry 14 pass from Jarrell (DeFreirtas kick) J – Cooper Dillenbeck 16 pass from Mason Armstrong (pass failed) Statistics NW J First downs 24 12 Yards rushing 338 173 Yards passing 148 103 Passing 22-14-1 18-7-0 Punts 1 ave 7 2 ave 45.5 Penalties 3 for 25 yds 2 for 20 yds