Cougars to face ground-pounding Riders

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

In some ways, the Van Wert Cougars and the St. Marys Memorial Roughriders are very similar.

Both teams have had ups and downs this season and both teams are 3-3 overall. While both teams are most likely out of the Western Buckeye League championship race (the Roughriders are 3-2 in the WBL, the Cougars are 2-3), they both remain alive in the playoff chase. Both teams feature dynamic running backs, so much so that they’re the top two rushers in the WBL.

The Roughriders started the season 0-2, with losses to Galon and Bath, two teams with a combined record of 10-2. Since then, St. Marys Memorial has won three of four, with victories over Celina, Defiance and Ottawa-Glandorf. The only loss came to 6-0 Wapakoneta.

“We’ve had some very good and some very bad,” Roughrider head coach Bo Frye said. “We are still a good football team. Part of our struggles are the teams we’ve been beaten by were senior dominant and have a combined record of 16-2. That is not an excuse though, as we had our opportunities.”

“We feel like we’ve played extremely hard and showed a great level of toughness,” he continued. “We have not executed to our standards in some areas. We hope and will continue to get better at the details. We know at this point in the season, we better execute or we will not carry on our tradition of making the playoffs.”

Operating out of the old school Wing-T attack, a staple of Roughriders football, fullback Caleb Schmidt (5-10, 190 pounds) leads all WBL rushers with 898 yards and 14 touchdowns on 129 carries (7.0 average).

“More than a football player, Caleb Schmidt is a great person,” Frye said. “He is the backbone of our football team. We have a very high character group of seniors and he exemplifies all of them. He is also a very good fullback – runs hard and does the little things extremely well.”

Dyllan Fink has contributed 64 carries for 278 yards, while Luke Rammel has 39 carries for 255 yards. The Roughriders have put the ball in the air a bit more than previous years. Quarterback Aiden Meinerding has completed 19-of-40 passes for 229 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. Fink is the leading receiver with seven receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown. As a team, St. Marys Memorial averages 256.5 yards rushing per game and 38 passing yards per game. On defense, the Roughriders yield 133 yards rushing and 170 passing yards per game.

“They make you win a lot of 1-on-1 matchups during the game, both offensively and defensively,” Recker said. “They will play man-to-man coverage so our receivers have to win those matchups against their defensive backs, while we also have to be able to protect in pass coverage against their defensive line. On defense, we have to be able to get off blocks. We have struggled against primary run teams in Celina and Defiance, so we will have to do a much better job of getting off blocks and play gap sound, assignment sound football.” 

“We need to do a much better job of tackling against them this year compared to what we did last year,” he added. “I believe our guys will be excited about the challenge of playing this type of team and the physical nature of the game Friday.”

Currently, the Cougars are allowing 199 rushing yards per game, plus 152 yards through the air per outing.

Van Wert got off to a 2-0 start with wins over Bryan and Elida, but have dropped three of the last four games, including a 42-28 loss to Wapakoneta last Friday. The previous week, the Cougars defeated Defiance 36-27.

“I thought we did a good job in our run game against what is the best run defense in the league statistically,” Recker said of the game against Wapakoneta. “Xavier (Kelly) did a very good job and our line was able to create some holes. I also was proud of how we competed in the second half despite the deficit. Our guys showed up believing they could win and competed all the way through.”

Operating out of Van Wert’s spread offense, Kelly rushed for 168 yards and four touchdowns against the Redskins and enters Friday’s game as the WBL’s second leading rusher (106 carries, 876 yards, 12 touchdowns). Micah Cowan now leads the team in receptions (37-379, two touchdowns), including 10 grabs against Wapakoneta. On defense, Cowan had an interception and a fumble recovery.

“Micah is everything a coach wants in a football player,” Recker said. “He is fast, athletic, and tough. He allows us to do a lot defensively because of his ability to play up towards the line of scrimmage but also the speed to play in the secondary. He has the speed to get to the ball carrier and the toughness to tackle very effectively. He has great hands at receiver and does a good job of getting yards after the catch and yards after contact.”

The Roughriders have won two straight against Van Wert, including a 49-14 victory last season.

Friday’s game will air live on WERT 1220AM/104.3FM.