Johnson Creek Uses Strong First Quarter to Roll Past Deerfield (Football)

 by AJ Whitehouse, Junior Writer

The Johnson Creek Bluejays fought strongly Thursday night against the Deerfield Demons, finishing the four quarter game at Johnson Creek High School with a 57-12 victory. 

In route to their victory, Johnson Creek would score 36 first-quarter points. Deerfield started off with a three-and-out, having to punt the ball over to Johnson Creek. The Bluejays would capitalize with Owen Blakey (#24) running in a 4-yard touchdown with 6:16 left on the clock in the first quarter. 

It wouldn't take very long for the Bluejays to strike again. The following kickoff by Hayden Wagner (#21) was muffed by Deerfield and recovered by Johnson Creek's Luke Hartz (#9). The Bluejays would jump at the opportunity, with Owen Blakey running in a 23-yard touchdown, extending their lead to 14-0 with 6:07 left in the first quarter.

On the next Deerfield possession, quarterback Otto Ammerman would throw an interception to Hayden Wagner. Despite fumbling the ball during the interception return, Wagner would recover for a touchdown and extend the Bluejays lead to 21-0 with 5:09 left in the first quarter.

On the next Deerfield possession, they would once again go three-and-out and line up to punt. The punt ended up going out of bounds for a safety, making the score 23-0 with 3:32 left in the first quarter. On the kickoff following the safety, Johnson Creek's Owen Pernat (#18) would return it for a 55-yard touchdown, extending the Bluejays lead to 30-0 with 3:20 still left in the first quarter.

The next Deerfield possession would start similarly, with Otto Ammerman throwing his second interception of the game to Hayden Wagner. Johnson Creek would once again capitalize, with quarterback Aiden Smith (#1) throwing a 15-yard touchdown pass to Evan Malueg (#11) with 2:14 left in the first quarter, making the score 36-0.

After another Deerfield three-and-out, the Bluejays would start the second quarter strong, with Owen Blakey running in a 10-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 43-0 with 11:06 left in the second quarter. On the next possession, Deerfield would once again turn the ball over, with Owen Pernat intercepting Otto Ammerman for a third time. The Bluejays would quickly give the ball right back after a Jackson Raabe (#7) fumble.

The Demons would capitalize on the turnover, scoring their first touchdown of the game on an Otto Ammerman pass to Zander Hart with 12 seconds left in the second quarter, making it 43-6. The extra point was missed.

The Deerfield kickoff to start the second half would go out of bounds, leading to good field position for Johnson Creek. The Bluejays would take advantage, with Luke Hartz running in a 4-yard touchdown at the 10:01 mark in the third quarter, extending the lead to 50-6.

On their next possession, Deerfield would turn the ball over on downs, giving it right back to the Bluejays. Once again, it wouldn't take long for Johnson Creek to capitalize, with AJ Whitehouse (#6) running in a 5-yard touchdown, making it 57-6 with 1:03 left in the third quarter.

Deerfield would score one more time in the fourth quarter, with Otto Ammerman running in a touchdown from 14 yards out with 7:30 left, making it 57-12. The extra point was missed. The Bluejays would hang on from there, winning the game 57-12, and move to 2-0 on the season.

For the Bluejays, it was a bit of revenge after losing to Deerfield last year. This time around, Johnson Creek controlled the game from start to finish. Aiden Smith only had to throw two passes, both of which were complete. He finished with 19 passing yards and a touchdown.

Running back Owen Blakey once again had himself a day, rushing 9 times for 118 yards and 3 touchdowns. Luke Hartz also had a nice game on the ground, rushing 5 times for 88 yards and a touchdown.

Johnson Creek (2-0) will look to defend homefield once again this week as they welcome in undefeated Westfield on Friday, September 5th, at 7 p.m.