Cougars lose to Bath in WBL home game

CINDY WOOD/independent sports

The struggle continues for the winless Cougars after a Western Buckeye League loss to Lima Bath, 37-8, Friday evening at Eggerss Stadium.

Turnovers again plagued the home team and Bath capitalized on Tyler Williams’ three interceptions on the night. Offensively, the Cougars scrambled to get any forward progress going, with Bath’s defense holding Van Wert to 11 first downs on the game.

Bath’s offense, however, took advantage early, putting up 10 first-quarter points, its first 7 coming on the opening possession when Keanu James ran into the end zone from 14 yards out. The extra point made it 7-0 Bath.

Van Wert’s first drive ended with a turnover and Bath produced points out of it, driving the ball down the field into Cougar territory. The defense held on a third and 3, though, and only allowed Bath a field goal from 25-yards out, 10-0 Bath with 3:08 left in the quarter.

A second-quarter underthrown ball again proved costly and Bath started its touchdown-scoring drive on Van Wert’s 33-yard-line and finished it with a 25-yard run from Bath’s Aaron Smith, 17-0 Bath at the 8:13 mark of the second quarter.

Two minutes passed, and Williams made it a game, and sparked a temporary jolt in the Cougars when he broke out of a Lima Bath pack of defenders and ran 59-yards down the field for Van Wert’s first and only score of the night. A successful two-point conversion whittled the lead to 17-8.

The momentum stayed temporarily with Van Wert and its defense stepped up on Bath’s next drive, when Austin Reichert found Bath quarterback Brad Davis in the backfield, forcing a punt.

With no one back to receive, though, Van Wert’s offense was placed in a precarious position on its own 4-yard line.

Lucas Sullivan provided some breathing room on the next few plays with runs of 11, 10 and 3 yards, and Williams added another seven before Bath’s defense sacked Williams on the next two plays, forcing Van Wert to punt it away.

With 1:24 left in the half, Bath used the clock, and the sideline to its advantage and allowed Davis enough time to tuck it under and run it from 11 yards out with just 13 seconds left in the half. The kick went right and Lima took a 23-8 lead into the locker room.

The second half began promising for Van Wert with good efforts from Caleb Lloyd and Sullivan, but Bath’s defense again stifled Van Wert, forcing a punt just across midfield. Another offensive opportunity came shortly after but negative yardage pushed the Cougars back yet again. A high snap on the ensuing punt gave Bath excellent field position at Van Wert’s 41-yard line. The Wildcats whittled the yardage away and Davis ran into the end zone untouched from four yards out, widening the lead to 29-8 with two-and-a-half minutes to go in the third.

Another score from Davis in the final quarter, this time from 7 yards out, gave Bath the 37-8 win.

Davis connected on 8 of his 14 pass attempts in the game for 183 yards, and Williams was 1 of 7 for (-4) yards on the night. The Wildcats rushed 47 times for 226 yards. Van Wert rushed 40 times for 215 yards. Smith led Bath in rushing with 27 carries for 155 yards and a touchdown. Sullivan led Van Wert with 18 attempts for 102 yards. Williams rushed 13 times for 72 yards and a touchdown. Mitch Skinner had 6 catches for 118 yards for Lima.

With the loss, Van Wert drops to 0-5 overall and 0-4 in the league, and Bath improves to 3-3 overall and 3-2 in the league.