Cougars finish season with win over SM

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

ST. MARYS — It came down to the last week of the season to settle who would occupy the basement of the Western Buckeye League, and, thankfully, it wasn’t the Van Wert Cougars. The Cougars got out fast with a 28-7 first-quarter advantage and then held on for a 41-32 victory over the St. Marys Roughriders Friday in St. Marys.

Both programs, which have gone from being two of the league’s premier teams to struggling to avoid second-tier status, battled hard to avoid a winless season. Offensively, the game was the best this season for Van Wert, which compiled 518 total offensive yards, 391 of those on the ground.

Justice Tussing, who replaced the injured Terrance Branson, rushed 25 times for 218 yards and a touchdown, while also catching three passes for another 22 yards and a second TD. Cougar quarterback Colin Smith rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown, while completing 10 of 13 passes for 127 yards, three TDs and one interception.

Before leaving the game with a broken leg midway through the second quarter, Branson caught two passes for 53 yards and a touchdown.

Chase Roop led the ‘Riders offensively with 101 yards on 14 rushes, while also catching three passes for 19 yards. Roop also got St. Marys moving offensively in the first quarter when he ran a kick-off back 88 yards for a score.

The Cougars scored the first three touchdowns of the game on 1- and 2-yd runs by Smith and Tussing and a 14-yard pass from Smith to Tussing. Following Roop’s heroics for the Roughriders, Van Wert capped the first-quarter scoring with a 31-yard pass from Smith to Branson that put the Cougars up 28-7.

The second quarter, though, belonged to the Roughriders, who scored two touchdowns and a field goal to trail by only four points, 28-24, at the half. St. Marys’ scores came on 15- and 2-yard runs by quarterback Isaac Fitzgerald and a 20-yard field goal by Clayton Trogdlon.

Van Wert then scored the next two touchdowns, the first coming with 10½ minutes remaining in the third quarter on a 31-yard run by senior Michael Smelser and the second score with 7:33 remaining in the game when Smith connected with Nick Krugh on a 40-yard touchdown pass, and led 41-24.

The Roughriders lit up the scoreboard one more time as Fitzgerald ran the ball in from the 10 and Jered Knous ran for two points on the PAT attempt, but that’s all St. Marys could muster in the 41-32 loss.

The Cougars end their season at 1-9 overall and 1-8 in the WBL, while the ‘Riders now have a 21-game winless streak over the past two seasons.