Shawnee ground attack beats Cougars

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

LIMA – The Van Wert Cougars generated some offense, but the defense couldn’t stop Shawnee from generating more, as the Indians downed Van Wert 35-20 in a Western Buckeye League match-up at Shawnee.

The Cougars put two scores on the board early on when Gavin Gardner booted a 30-yard field goal at the 8:25 mark and Justice Tussing ran in a touchdown from the Shawnee 5-yard-line for a 10-0 lead with less than two minutes left in the first quarter.

The Indians cut the Van Wert lead to three points, 10-7, with a 44-yard run by Angelo Fox with a fraction of a second left on the first-quarter scoreboard, and Connor Bianco kicked the extra point attempt.

Shawnee then scored to start off the second quarter when quarterback Griffin Hites legged the ball into the end zone from 15 yards out. Bianco kicked the PAT and it was a 14-10 lead for the Indians.

The Cougars again responded, though, with Tussing scoring on a 10-yard run with a little over three minutes left in the first half to make it 16-14, Van Wert. Gardner kicked the point-after and the Cougars led, 17-14, at the half.

A combination of Van Wert mistakes and Shawnee offensive adjustments led to two third-quarter scores by the Indians. Following a 20-yard field goal by Gardner that increased the Cougars’ lead to 20-14, Shawnee first scored on a 33-yard run by Hites, who then connected with Thad Vernon on a 38-yard scoring strike and it was 28-10, Indians, as the third quarter ended.

Shawnee scored once more in the final quarter on a 9-yard run by Fox with 8:23 left in the game to complete the scoring.

The Indians generated 436 yards of total offense, grinding out 385 yards of that in 58 carries on the ground. Van Wert had 232 total yards of offense, with 167 of those coming through the air. Starting quarterback Colin Smith completed 11 of 22 passes for 166 yards, but also had one interception. Backup QB Evan Williams completed 2 of 5 passes, but only generated a yard of offense.

Tussing was the Cougars’ top receiver with 93 yards on four catches, while Terrance Branson ran for 37 yards on four carries for Van Wert.

Shawnee’s tandem of Fox and Hites rushed for a total of 315 yards on 41 carries and three touchdowns in the game.

With the loss, the Cougars are now 0-3 overall and 0-2 in the WBL, while Shawnee moves to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in league play.

Van Wert will host Kenton potent aerial offense at home this coming Friday.