Mistakes lead to opening loss for Cougars

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

The Van Wert Cougars had some positives in their traditional non-season opener against Bryan, but the positives were outweighed by the negatives — too many turnovers and missed defensive assignments — as the Cougars fell 28-19 to the Golden Bears at home in Eggerss Stadium.

While Van Wert won the game on the stats sheet, compiling 399 yards of total offense, to 249 for Bryan, the Cougars also had five turnovers to just one for their opponents, with some of those turnovers proving costly to the hometown team.

Van Wert’s sophomore quarterback Lawson Blackmore put up some good numbers for his first outing as a starter, completing 20 of 33 passes for 286 yards and a touchdown, but also threw two interceptions, the first of which led to Bryan’s go-ahead touchdown with the Cougars leading 13-7 in the third quarter, and the second returned for a Golden Bears’ “pick six” in the fourth quarter with Van Wert trailing by just by a point.

The young Cougars also had trouble holding on to the ball, as they fumbled the ball five times, with three of those recovered by Bryan to stall offensive drives.

Things looked promising early in the game. After a scoreless first quarter, Van Wert scored on its first possession of the second quarter via a 39-yard pass from Blackmore to Nate Place. The PAT kick failed and the Cougars were up 6-0 with 10:08 remaining in the first quarter.

After Bryan gave up the ball on downs, Van Wert again took the ball down the field, with Blackmore hitting Jacoby Kelly for a 38-yard scoring strike. Jordan Danylchuk split the uprights on the PAT kick and it was 13-0, Cougars, with 4:35 remaining in the first stanza.

This time, Bryan returned the favor, scoring with 1:14 remaining in the first half when quarterback Drew Peters threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Colt Arthur. Josh Jones kicked the first of four extra points and it was 13-7, Van Wert.

After the break, the Golden Bears had the only third-quarter score on a 1-yard TD run by Damon Beltz. Jones kicked the PAT and it was 14-13, Bryan, with 6:36 remaining in the quarter.

The Cougars started the fourth quarter with an interception, as Bryan’s Sam Culler picked off a Blackmore pass and scampered 30 yards to paydirt and a 21-13 lead.

Van Wert returned the favor when Bradon Calvelage picked up a fumble and ran it into the end zone for a touchdown and a 21-19 ballgame, but the Golden Bears put the game out of reach when John Rittenhouse, who had 104 yards on 30 carries in the game, ran 24 yards for the final TD of the game.

Evan Williams ran for 41 yards on six carries, while catching three passes for 62 yards. Kelly had just 37 yards on 11 carries on the ground, but caught three passes for 62 yards and a touchdown. Nate Place also had three catches for 60 yards and a TD.