BY JOHN PARENT
DHI Media Sports Editor
sports@timesbulletin.com
VAN
WERT — What began looked like a laugher turned into a battle to the
closing seconds, but a Van Wert defense that bent throughout the game
stiffened when it needed to, and the Cougars knocked off Elida 31-28 on
Friday night.
Van Wert opened its homecoming game at Eggress
Stadium and wasted little time in getting the party started. Just three
snaps into the contest, junior quarterback Colin Smith dropped back and
threw a deep ball to speedster Nick Krugh up the left sideline. Krugh
breezed past the Bulldog corner and caught the ball in stride. No one
would come close to catching the all-conference track star and the play
went for a 71-yard touchdown.
After a Bulldog punt, the Cougars
scored again, this time using the ground attack. Justice Tussing picked
up 13 yards on a third-and-10 to keep the drive moving, the Smith
scrambled for nine yards on a fourth-and-6 from the Elida 23. After
Smith hit Krugh again for a 10-yard gain, Tussing found pay dirt with a
3-yard run off tackle, making it 14-0.
The Cougars extended their
lead on a Gavin Gardner 26-yard field goal early in the second quarter
Jacob Kelly’s interception of Elida quarterback Logan Alexander gave the
Cougars the ball back at their own 43.
It took Van Wert just
three plays to score again, with Tussing breaking off a 26-yard run off
tackle and Smith rolling out and finding Krugh on a deep slant for a
29-yard touchdown.After Gardner’s extra-point, Van Wert led 24-0 with
5:53 left in the first half.
That’s when Elida began its comeback.
The
Bulldogs took to the ground, recognizing finally the Cougar defensive
philosophy of taking away star wide out Clark Etzler. Alexander and
tailback Cole Harmon ran the read-option time and time again, and
routinely found success up the middle. For a Cougar defense that has
been stout versus the run this year, Elida’s onslaught was surprising,
but just what the Cougar coaching staff was hoping for.
“It was
kind of a catch-22,” Van Wert head coach Keith Recker said. “If we
played one way, we were going to give up the pass and we didn’t want 8
(Etzler) to get open. If we play another way, they’ll be able to run it
on us, and we gave them the run. It chewed up the most clock.”
The
Bulldogs got on the board with an Alexander 3-yard run with 2:53 to
play in the second quarter and forced a quick 3-and-out by the Cougars.
The Bulldogs, who were set to receive the second-half kickoff, started
another march as the quarter drew to a close, knowing a score would put
them right back in the game. Facing a fourth-and-1 at the Cougar 14,
Elida abandoned the run and went to the air, but came up empty and the
Cougar defense held.
“That was huge. We needed that stop,” Recker
explained. “The defense was able to step up that time and did a heck of a
job. That was huge to get a 17-point lead at the half.”
Undaunted,
the Bulldogs scored to open the third quarter, but5 it took them nearly
six minutes of game action to do so. Even so, Elida had chipped away
and now trailed 24-14 when the Cougars got back to work offensively.
The
Cougars used an 11-play drive that chewed up just over five minutes of
clock and spanned 74 yards. Tussing took it in for the one on a
fourth-and-goal play to re-build the Cougar lead at 31-14.
“Our
offense was able to put together a big drive,” Recker added. “I’m real
proud of the way the offense played tonight. I thought we did some good
things.”
Again, Elida would respond.
Staying strictly on the
ground, Alexander directed another scoring drive, this one highlighted
by a 23-yard run by Harmon to set up a 1-yard dive by the quarterback
and a 31-21 score with just under ten minutes of clock remaining.
With
a chance to seal the game, the Cougars instead went backward and turned
the ball over on a fumble; Van Wert’s only turnover of the contest.
Elida needed a quick score and they got one, with Alexander finding
Brian Upshaw on a quick out before Harmon went in from six yards out to
pull Elida to within three.
After another stalled Cougar drive, the Bulldogs had a chance to take the lead, taking over with 5:06 to play.
Elida
drove to the Cougar 43 but faced a fourth-and-6 with under three
minutes to go. Alexander looked to pass, but Van Wert overloaded the
left side and Chandler Adams and Nolan Smith got pressure and brought
Alexander down for the sack.
“We decided to go man across and
bring the blitz,” Recker said. “We doubled (Etzler), hoping they didn’t
have enough time to look for him, and they didn’t. Big play by Chandler
to get that fourth-down stop.”
The Cougars officially sealed the game when Keagon Hardmon picked off Alexander’s last-second deep ball as the clock expired.
Elida’s Etzler was held to just two catches and one carry, totaling 51 yards of offense.
“He’s
been getting a lot of touches, and we knew our best shot was to keep it
out of his hands,” Recker explained. “We did that. Win by three or win
by 30, a win is a win, so we’ll take it.”
****
Elida 0 7 7 14- 28
Van Wert 14 10 7 0- 31
Passing
yards- Elida 162, Van Wert 159; Rushing yards- Elida 216, Van Wert 124;
Total yards- Elida 378, Van Wert 283; First downs- Elida 21, Van Wert
13; Turnovers- Elida 2, Van Wert 1
Passing comp-att yrds
Alexander (E)- 13-for-23 162 2 INT, C. Smith (VW) 7-for-11 159 2 TD
Rushing carries-yards
Alexander (E)- 22-100 3 TD; Harmon (E) 17-119 TD; Etzler (E) 1-11; C. Smith (VW) 9-5; Tussing (VW) 26-119 2 TD
Receiving catches-yards
Moran (E) 5-46, Upshaw (E) 3-35, Etzler (E) 2-43, Stinson (E) 2-40; Krugh (VW) 5-126 2 TD, Hardmon (VW) 1-23, Stoller (VW) 1-13