Cougs’ opener shaky; lose 56-0 to Bryan

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

It wasn’t the debut new Van Wert Head Coach Keith Recker wanted, as his young Cougar squad misfired on both offense and defense during a 56-0 opening loss to the Bryan Golden Bears.

Bryan, a team picked preseason to win the North West Ohio League, showed why during a dominating performance against the Cougars Friday night at Eggerss Stadium. The Golden Bears amassed a total of 410 yards of offense, while holding Van Wert to just 159 yards, most of that on the ground.

Bryan quarterback Austen Schimmoeller was a big reason for his team’s success as he passed for three touchdowns and ran for two more to lead both teams in offense. Schimmoeller rushed for 108 yards on 10 carries to lead Bryan in that category, while the Golden Bears quarterback had 206 yards through the air on a 14 of 23 passing performance that also included two interceptions.

The Cougars had just 36 yards of passing offense, with quarterback Tyler Williams connecting on just 3 of 16 passing attempts. Williams was also Van Wert’s leading rusher with 68 yards on 15 carries, while Logan Ray caught two passes for 29 yards for the Cougars. Daniel Pendergrast was the leading receiver for Bryan, with four receptions for a total of 82 yards.

The Golden Bears scored less than two minutes into the game when Pendergrast scored from the Van Wert 1-yard-line at the 10:04 mark. Troy Savage hit the first of eight extra-point attempts and it was 7-0, Bryan.

After a Van Wert offensive series bogged down, the Golden Bears got a break – one of several on the night off special teams miscues – when the snap went high on the punt and Bryan ended up with the ball on the Cougars’ 32-yard line.

Schimmoeller then found Derek Knisely on the first play from scrimmage for a 32-yard scoring strike that made it 14-0 with 6:04 left in the quarter.

The second quarter was even worse for Van Wert as the Golden Bears scored four times, with the first coming on a 16-yard pass from Schimmoeller to Pendergrast a little more than a minute into the quarter.

The Bryan quarterback scored the second TD on an 11-yard run at the 8:04 mark in the quarter, while Travis Dean ran the ball in from 15 yards out with a little over 2 minutes left in the half to make it 35-0 in favor of the Golden Bears.

After a Van Wert three-and-out, Schimmoeller again found Pendergrast in the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown with 26 seconds left for a 42-0 halftime lead.

The Cougar defense stiffened in the second half, allowing Bryan just two scores in the half, with the first of those coming at 8:33 of the third quarter when Schimmoeller ran the ball in from the Van Wert 10-yard line.

The last score of the game came with less than a minute off the fourth-quarter clock when the Cougars’ Luke Stevens intercepted a pass, but then fumbled it on his own 19-yard line, again giving the Golden Bears excellent field position. Bryan’s Zane Azzarello then scored from the 10-yard line at the 11:05 mark to end Van Wert’s ordeal.

The Cougars will hope to turn things around this coming Friday when they play their Western Buckeye League opener against Shawnee at home. The game starts at 7:30 p.m.