Cougars to face winless Celina team

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

This week’s game at Eggerss Stadium will feature one team trying to shake off miscues and a one-score loss, and another team looking for its first victory of the season.

Van Wert (2-1) fell to Bath 35-28 last Friday, while Celina (0-3) lost to rival St. Marys Memorial 42-14 the same night. The Cougars were plagued by a muffed punt, a blocked punt and two interceptions, while the Bulldogs had difficulty slowing Roughrider fullback Caleb Schmidt, who rushed for 293 yards and six touchdowns on 27 carries.

“We need to, as coaches and players, do a better job of making sure all the little things such as first steps, reads, who we are double teaming to, etc. are coached and perfected at practice,” Van Wert head coach Keith Recker said. “We have to focus on the little things that will allow us to execute our assignments and those will add up over the course of the game.”

Recker also acknowledged that the defense, which struggled against big plays in 2024, has shown noticeable improvement through three games.

“Our defensive backs are doing a very good job of communicating and understanding the route combinations teams are throwing and how we defend those,” Recker said. “We’ve made a big deal about keeping big plays at a minimum and they are going a very good job of limiting team’s big plays.  Finley (Dickinson) and Cohen (Bragg) are playing very well at both safety positions.”

On the offensive side of the ball, the Cougars continue to show remarable balance by averaging 202 yards rushing and 198 yards passing per game. Xavier Kelly has compiled 381 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, plus eight receptions for 151 yards and two additional scores. Zach Crummey has completed 42-of-59 passes for 592 yards, five touchdowns and five interceptions. Keaten Welch (11-205, one touchdown) and Micah Cowan (17-157, two touchdowns) continue to lead the team in receiving. Griffin McCracken has converted 11-of-12 extra point attempts.

“Van Wert is extremely athletic and well coached,” Celina head coach Brennan Bader said. “Their offense is explosive and their defense is extremely sound. They will be a big challenge for us.”

Celina’s schedule to this point has been brutal. The Bulldogs opened the season with a 31-7 loss to St. Henry, a team that pushed Marion Local to the limit last Friday. Celina then opened Western Buckeye League play against one of the top teams in Ohio in Division III, Wapakoneta. The result was a 24-7 loss to the Redskins, who are four-time defending WBL champions. Last week’s game was “The Battle of Grand Lake” and while St. Marys Memorial was 0-2 coming in, the Roughriders had found their running game during the second half of a Week No. 2 loss to Bath, and it rolled into last Friday’s game against the Bulldogs.

“There are not many positives when you are 0-3, but I would say we have a good group of guys that are working really hard,” Bader said.

Through three games, Celina is averaging 67 yards per game on the ground and 147 passing. Parker Bertke is the team’s leading rusher with 34 carries for 137 yards and a touchdown, plus eight receptions for 102 yards. Carson Weitzel has nine catches for 96 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Parker Wynk has completed 39-of-66 passes for 442 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Defensively, the Bulldogs allow 322 yards per game, including 227 rushing.

“Celina is very well coached, has good size up front on both sides of the ball and they play a very physical style of football,” he stated. “We need to do a great job with our offensive line this week controlling the line of scrimmage and force them to defend the run. We need to continue to play gap sound defense and recognize their many formations while playing great coverage.”

A play that brought Cougar fans to their feet last week was a double handoff that appeared to be a reverse, but wound up as an improvised touchdown pass thrown by Cowan to Geary Hilleary. In addition, Kelly took a handful of snaps in the Wildcat formation against Bath. Recker said it may not be the last time the Cougars reach into their bag of tricks.

“We practice a few trick plays each week and we have them at our disposal ready to be thrown in,” Recker said. “Coach (Bryce) Crea does a good job of creating some tough plays for defenses to defend, but it all comes back to executing our base plays and then we can throw those plays in when needed.”

Friday’s game will air live on WERT 1220AM/104.3FM. The Bulldogs have won two straight over the Cougars, 17-14 at Eggerss Stadium in 2023, and 42-14 in Celina last season.