Kenton dominates Cougs in WBL win

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

KENTON — The Van Wert Cougars were totally dominated by Kenton en route to a 46-7 thrashing by the Wildcats in Western Buckeye League action at Kenton.

The veteran Kenton defensive unit dominated the young Cougar offense, while the Wildcats’ air attack did the same thing to Van Wert’s inexperienced defense on the offensive side of the ball.

The Wildcats scored seven unanswered touchdowns, mostly on big plays, with the first TD coming at the 7:12 mark of the first quarter when Kenton quarterback Trent Hites hit Kollin Stollar for a 6-yard touchdown. The PAT attempt failed and it was 6-0, Wildcats.

Stollar was a busy guy, though, as he scored twice in the game on punt returns. The first of those came with 1:23 left in the first quarter when he scrambled 71 yards for the score to put Kenton up 12-0 as the first quarter ended.

Hites again hit Stollar for a 21-yard scoring strike with 8:58 left in the second quarter, while Chris Deardorff kicked the PAT to give Kenton a 19-0 lead.

The Wildcats again scored on a 76-yard pass from Hites to Colyn Blackford with 1:56 left in the second period. Deardorff again kicked the PAT to give Kenton a 26-0 halftime lead.

The Wildcats scored twice in the third quarter, the first coming on a 42-yard pass from Hites to Stollar at the 7:20 mark for a 32-0 lead (the PAT kick failed), while the second TD came on Stollar’s second punt return score, a 60-yard ramble to paydirt with 4:39 remaining in the third quarter. Deardorff kicked the PAT and Kenton was up 39-0 as the third quarter ended.

The Wildcats’ final score came on a 10-yard pass from Hites to Seth Kuhlman at the 10:08 mark of the fourth quarter. Deardorff added the Pat to make it 46-0, Kenton.

Van Wert finally got on the scoreboard with 9:28 left in the game when Colin Smith found Nick Krugh for a 55-yard touchdown pass. Gavin Gardner kicked the point-after to make it 46-7.

Neither team had much of a running game, with both rushing for just 21 yards — the Cougars on 15 rushes, while Kenton ran the ball 13 times.

Hites completed 32 of 54 passes for 430 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Kenton’s other quarterback, Alex Huston, was 3-of-6 for 44 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions. Smith was 18 of 35 for the Cougars, with a touchdown and one interception.

Blackford was the Wildcats’ top receiver, with 12 receptions for 171 yards and one touchdown, while Stollar caught seven passes for 96 yards and three TDs, and Connor Jones had six catches for 109 yards and no touchdowns.

Krugh had six receptions for 71 yards and a TD for Van Wert.

With the win, Kenton is now 2-2 overall and 2-1 in the WBL, while the Cougars fall to 1-3 overall and 1-2 in league play.

Van Wert has homecoming coming up next week against Elida at Eggerss Stadium. The game will begin at 7:30 p.m.