Football notebook: Van Wert gets defensive against Shawnee
By Chris Howell,
2 days ago
Briston Wise of Van Wert throws a pass against Shawnee on Friday night at H.A. Eggerss Stadium. Chris Howell | The Lima News
VAN WERT — Timely stops are something Van Wert has struggled to get this season.
The Cougars (3-5, 2-5 WBL) entered Friday night dead last in the Western Buckeye League in total yards allowed and points given up, but those numbers went by the wayside in a 28-14 win over Shawnee.
Van Wert used timely stops, halting an 11-play drive with a punt, forced one three-and-out and picked up three turnovers on downs to get a win in back-to-back weeks for the first time this season.
“Stops were at a premium tonight,” said Van Wert coach Keith Recker. “When we’re able to get a few, it just gives us so much momentum for Briston and our offense, so if we can get the ball back, it’s demoralizing for them. We’re kind of a bend but don’t break defense as it is but our kids toughened up when they needed to.”
Van Wert allowed a pair of second-quarter touchdowns, a 4-yard run from Caleb Bacome and a 70-yard pass from Bacome to Chase DePalma, and that was it. A scoreless second half for Shawnee (2-6, 2-6 WBL) finished off the Cougars’ best defensive performance since Week 1 in a 48-8 win over Bryan.
“I thought our pursuit angles were better on plays,” Recker said. “We didn’t overrun the ball or force the edge trying to turn it back inside. Really, we just made tackles better and our guys started to understand where they fit in the realm of that defense. “
After taking a 13-0 lead in the first quarter, Van Wert never trailed in the game.
Quarterback Briston Wise hit Xavier Kelly for a 56-yard touchdown 30 seconds into the first quarter, and when the defense stopped a six-minute Shawnee drive with a punt, Wise marched the Cougars 72 yards back down the field and ran for a 39-yard touchdown with 2:46 left.
Wise ended the night completing 11 of 15 passes for 143 yards, three touchdowns and one interception with 135 yards and a touchdown on the ground. He went down with an injury on the final play of the second quarter but returned at the start of the second half.
For Shawnee, Caleb Bacome started again at quarterback in place of the injured JJ Spyker and went 13 of 26 for 166 yards and a touchdown.
Dalton Hopson carried the ball 10 times for 74 yards and DePalma led the team in receiving with his 70-yard catch. Cole Sunderland added 68 rushing yards and six catches for 57 yards.
Bath bounces back against Defiance
BATH TOWNSHIP — There’s a saying around Bath football, “Do your job.”
There was little doubt who did their job Friday night in the Wildcats’ 28-0 victory against Defiance: Everyone.
“Defense did its job. Offense did its job. Everybody did his job,” said Bath’s Zach Welsch. “That’s something we say around here, is, ‘Do your job tonight.’”
Welsch did his share of doing his job too. The quarterback ran for four touchdowns, rushing 18 times for 100 yards. He also completed 19 of 28 passes for 207 yards, with completions to five different players as the Wildcats (5-3, 5-2 WBL) racked up 343 yards. Welsh completed his final eight passes of the game.
Defensively, Welsch also had an interception at the 5 just before halftime that helped preserve the shutout. The Bath defense held the Bulldogs (5-3, 5-2 WBL) to just 166 total yards, 181 yards below its average this season.
“They just do everything we ask them to do,” Bath coach Frank Russell said. “Like I said earlier in the year, the only thing we want to do is get better every day. We had some tough drives out there. Our guys just continued to improve.”
The win gave Wapakoneta (8-0, 7-0 WBL) at least a share of the WBL championship and created a three-way logjam in second place, with Bath, Defiance and St. Marys all at 5-2 in the league.
The Wildcats put a lot of pressure on Defiance quarterback Brez Zipfel, sacking him four times, including two by Bath’s Landon Oglesbee. Zipfel completed 11 of 20 passes for just 97 yards. Noah Gomez ran for 90 yards on 11 carries, mostly in the fourth quarter when the outcome wasn’t in doubt.
“It was a lot of fun,” Oglesbee said. “It’s especially fun when we have other good guys who can wash the QB down to you, can push him out to you. I felt like we were really playing well together.”
St. Marys stomps Kenton
ST. MARYS – St. Marys wants to run the football virtually every play, while Kenton looks to pass as much as possible.
Something had to give in Friday’s Western Buckeye League matchup between those two different offenses.
St. Marys’ lethal running attack proved to be too much for Kenton to handle as the Roughriders rushed for 506 yards, en route to a convincing 64-28 victory over the visiting Wildcats.
St. Marys improved to 6-2 overall and 5-2 in WBL action. Kenton fell to 1-7 in all games played and 1-6 in league action.
“We’ve been doing it (running the football) all year,” St. Marys coach Bo Frye said. “We were in a little lull there, early in the season. We’re starting to peak at where we want to get to every year.”
Nine different players carried the football for the Roughriders on Friday, while they did not attempt a single pass on the night. Jacob Kessler led the St. Marys rushing attack with 107 yards on just four carries. Kessler had a 62-yard touchdown run on the first drive of the night.
St. Marys spread the wealth around on Friday with five different players recording at least 62 rushing yards.
“We’ve got a veteran team,” Frye said. “A lot of those kids have been carrying the ball for three or four years. Kessler, you will see in the backfield more now after we moved him from quarterback. But they are all natural running backs. … That’s what we get here at St. Marys.”
Kenton did its damage in the air. Quarterback Korbin Johnston was 29 of 42 passing for 295 yards and had three TD passes. Maddux McFarlin was Johnston’s favorite receiver with 10 catches for 115 yards and two TDs. Teammate Zayne Perkins had 10 receptions for 99 yards and two scores.
Parker guides LCC past Spencerville
SPENCERVILLE – LCC returned to Memorial Field for the first time since 2019 for a Northwest Conference battle against Spencerville and left as victors, using the second half to pull away for a 36-7 win on Friday night.
The final score might not indicate it as a close game, but for two quarters, Spencerville (4-4, 1-4 NWC) kept the T-Birds within striking distance.
“I thought the first half was a real battle,” said LCC coach Scott Palte. “I think we had a couple opportunities to take control of the game and penalties got us. We had a 15-0 lead and let them score right before the half to make it a really tight game. I’m proud of our kids for coming out in the second half, recovering and playing really well.
“Spencerville is such an improved team. They get better each week. You can see it in the film. I knew they were going to come out and play hard and give us everything we could ask for.”
LCC (6-2, 4-1 NWC) marched right down the field on its opening possession when Brady Parker capped off a two-minute drive with a 1-yard touchdown run.
After forcing Spencerville into a three-and-out, it looked as if the T-Birds were heading for the end zone once again. Parker engineered the run-pass-option offense to near perfection before the drive stalled out at the Bearcat 27-yard line.
On the following possession, Parker bobbled the snap off of Lausen Flores’ foot and Trevor Whitney pounced on the loose ball to set Spencerville up at LCC’s 31-yard line.
Parker erased the fumble quickly once he stepped back onto the field when he scampered into the endzone for a second time, this time from eight yards out to push LCC’s lead to 15-0 with under five minutes left in the half.
Palte said, “Brady (Parker) did a great job tonight making reads. He’s coming along and he’s learning the game as he goes each week. He’s a very talented and hard-working player.”
Top performers
• In Columbus Grove’s 49-7 win over Crestview, Trenton Barraza ran the ball 16 times for 118 yards and four touchdowns. It was his 29th 100-yard game, which passed Blaine Maag for most in Columbus Grove history. He also surpassed 5000 career yards. Kyle Hopkins went 10 of 11 for 207 yards and three touchdowns and Gavin Baxter made four catches for 105 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
• In Lima Senior’s 79-0 win over Waite, Ja’Niaus Hall completed 22 of 28 passes for 562 yards and a state-record 10 touchdowns. Isaiah Wilson made five grabs for 238 yards and four touchdowns, Vontae Watkins-Daniel had four catches for 110 yards and three touchdowns and Kahliq Walsh made seven receptions for 156 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
• In Allen East’s 41-0 win over Delphos Jefferson, Keagan Jones went 16 of 22 for 221 yards and two touchdowns. Miles McDorman ran the ball 14 times for 125 yards and three touchdowns.
• In Ottawa-Glandorf’s 21-7 win over Celina, Grant Evers had 35 carries for 188 yards.
• In Hardin Northern’s 52-14 win over Crestline, Nolan Hopson had 21 carries for 241 yards and four touchdowns.
• In Coldwater’s 24-7 win over New Bremen, Miles Potkotter carried the ball 13 times for 129 yards and three touchdowns.
• In Minster’s 35-0 win over Versailles, Brogan Stephey went 16 of 20 for 213 yards and two touchdowns. Dominik Meyer had 8 rushes for 40 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
• In Fort Recovery’s 36-24 win over Parkway, Reece Wendel had 32 carries for 112 yards and three touchdowns.
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