Cougars fall to Bath on late touchdown

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

LIMA — Bath capitalized on a late Van Wert fumble, turning it into eight points and giving the Wildcats a wild 43-37 shootout victory over the Cougars in the Western Buckeye League opener on Friday night.

The Cougar fumble gave Bath the ball at the 26 and Mikey Hale finished the game winning drive with a two-yard touchdown run with under a minute left. It was the only score in the fourth quarter, after the third three quarters were filled with touchdowns.

“Our guys gave everything they had, our effort was there all night,” Van Wert head coach Keith Recker said.

The game was a seesaw affair from the beginning. Griff McCracken’s 24 yard field goal gave Van Wert a 3-0 first quarter lead, but Bath’s Zach Welsch countered with a 70-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Cole. Briston Wise helped Van Wert regain the lead with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Micah Cowan and the Cougars enjoyed a 10-7 advantage at the end of the period.

The two collaborated on a 10-yard scoring strike in the second quarter but the 17-7 lead was short lived, Bath scored a pair of unanswered touchdowns, both on touchdown passes by Welsch – one a 49-yarder and the other on a double reverse pass from Welsch to Jaxson Foster. Even so, Wise found Cowan again on a 12-yard touchdown pass with just 14 seconds left until halftime. Cowan went on to have a monster night with 17 receptions for 228 yards and three scores. Keaten Welch added 11 receptions for 55 yards.

Wise opened the second half scoring with an 11-yard touchdown run which gave the Cougars a 30-21 lead but once again the Wildcats responded, this time with a 57-yard touchdown pass from Welsch to Josiah Clark just 20 seconds later. Gearry Hillary gave the Cougars their biggest lead of the night, 37-29 with a two-yard touchdown run with 3:33 left in the third period. Hale closed the gap to 37-35 with a 14-yard touchdown run with just under two minutes left.

Wise finished the game 32-of-41 for 318 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, and he added 115 yards rushing on 26 carries. Hillary chipped in with 87 yards on 18 carries and the Cougars finished with 540 yards of total offense, compared to 459 by Bath.

Briston and Gearry did a good job of earning tough yards on the ground,” Recker said. “We gave up too many big plays on defense and that is what cost us. Coaches need to make sure our guys are in the best position to limit big plays and players need to execute their assignments. Take away big plays and we win by 2-3 scores.

The Cougars (1-1, 0-1 WBL) will travel to Celina on Friday.

“I believe our guys will come back ready to get better and give a great effort against Celina next week,” Recker said.

Scoring summary

First quarter

VW – Griff McCracken 24 yard field goal

B – Zach Welsch 70-yard pass to Ethan Cole (Carson Myers kick)

VW – Briston Wise 24-yard pass to Micah Cowan (Griff McCracken kick)

Second quarter

VW – Briston Wise 10-yard pass to Micah Cowan (Griff McCracken kick)

B – Zach Welsch 49 yard touchdown pass (Carson Myers kick)

B – Zach Welsch 61-yard touchdown pass to Jaxson Foster (Carson Myers kick)

VW – Briston Wise 12-yard pass to Micah Cowan (Griff McCracken kick)

Third quarter

VW – Briston Wise 11-yard run (conversion failed)

B – Zach Welsch 57-yard pass to Josiah Clark (Carson Myers kick)

VW – Gearry Hilleary 2-yard run ( Griff McCracken kick)

B – Mikey Hale 14-yard run (Carson Myers kick)

Fourth quarter

B – Mikey Hale 2-yard run (two point conversion good)