Miscues doom VW in loss to Bath

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

Mistakes came back to haunt Van Wert in the first home game of the season on Friday.

Two of the miscues were on special teams – a muffed punt that led to a Bath touchdown and a blocked punt in the end zone that led to a Wildcat touchdown. In addition, two interceptions hampered drives, as Bath (3-0, 2-0 WBL) topped the Cougars 35-28.

Van Wert’s defense forced Bath into a three-and-out to start the game but after the muffed punt, the Wildcats drove 40 yards in eight plays and scored on a two yard touchdown run by quarterback Zach Welsch for a 7-0 lead. However, Van Wert answered with a trick play that saw Xavier Kelly take the snap, toss it to Zach Crummey who tossed it to Micah Cowan, who flung a desperation pass that wound up being a 2-yard score to Geary Hilleary.

The Cougars (2-1, 1-1 WBL) took the lead twice in the second quarter, 14-7 on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Crummey to Kelly and 21-14 on an 11-yard run by Crummey. However, sandwiched in between those scores was a punt that was both blocked and recovered in the end zone by Bath’s Liam Sullivan.

“There’s a stat that you lose 90 percent of the time if you have a punt blocked and it’s even higher if you get it for a touchdown, so that made things difficult,” Van Wert head coach Keith Recker said. “We kept battling and even with our mistakes we had a chance to win.”

After Crummey’s touchdown run, the Wildcats needed just three plays to tie them, with the third being a 17-yard scoring run by Mikey Hale, which resulted in a 21-21 halftime deadlock.

Things changed early in the third quarter. Van Wert received the second half kickoff and lost the ball on a Crummey interception, a turnover that led to a 21-yard touchdown pass from Welsch to Josiah Clark. Van Wert’s next drive ended with back-to-back sacks and a punt, which allowed Bath to put together a quick drive and score on a 38-yard pass from Welsch to Andru McDermott, giving the visitors a 35-21 lead.

“They did a good job of bringing their outside linebackers off the edge and they were big inside which made it difficult to run inside,” Recker explained. “When they were able to squeeze us, that took away some of our end stuff with Xavier, who does a really nice job coming off the edge and they were able to keep everything in front of them. They contained us and did a nice job.”

Van Wert’s next drive ended with an interception but the Cougars forced Bath to punt, then crafted a 15-play, 82-yard drive that ended with a one yard scoring run by Crummey with 4:42 left in the game. On the drive, Crummey completed 6-of-6 passes for 57 yards, including five to Keaten Welch for 53 yards. 

Unfortunately for Van Wert, Bath was able to run the remainder of the clock to seal the win.

Crummey finished the game 18-of-27 for 162 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Welch finished with six receptions for 59 yards. Kelly, who rushed for 101 yards on 13 carries in the first half, finished with 21 carries for 138 yards and added five catches for 39 yards.

Defensively, the Cougars held the Wildcats to 286 total yards, 256 below their average. Welsch completed 18-of-22 passes for 169 and two touchdowns, and Hale had 60 yards rushing on 10 carries.

Van Wert will host Celina (0-3) on Friday.

Scoring summary

First quarter

B – 7:12: Zach Welsch 2-yard run (Isaac Walls kick)

VW – 2:51: Micah Cowan 2-yard pass to Geary Hilleary (Griffin McCracken kick)

Second quarter

VW – 9:00: Zach Crummey 16-yard pass to Zach Crummey (Griffin McCracken kick)

B – 4:35: Liam Sullivan recovered blocked punt in the end zone (Isaac Walls kick)

VW – 1:52: Zach Crummey 11-yard run (Griffin McCracken kick)

B – 1:21: Mikey Hale 17-yard run (Isaac Walls kick)

Third quarter

B – 7:36: Zach Welsch 21-yard pass to Josiah Clark (Isaac Walls kick)

B – 3:18: Zach Welsch 38-yard pass to Andru McDermott (Isaac Walls kick)

Fourth quarter

VW – 4:42: Xavier Kelly 1-yard run (Griffin McCracken kick)