Kenton Wildcat passes down Cougars

DAVE MOSIER/independent sports

KENTON — An injured quarterback, a leaky secondary, and Kenton’s vaunted passing attack added up to a 48-12 Western Buckeye League road loss for the Van Wert Cougars on Friday.

Wildcats quarterback Trent Hites passed for 469 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception, while Storm Pierce, subbing for injured Cougar quarterback Lawson Blackmore, was 24 of 37 for 204 yards and two TDS, but also threw three picks as well.

Kenton started the scoring with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Hites to Chris Deardorff with 9:36 left on the first-quarter clock. Hites kicked the one-point conversion to make it 7-0, Wildcats.

Van Wert scored on its first possession when Pierce hit Nick Gutierrez for a 24-yard score with 5:16 left in the first quarter. The point-after kick failed, though, and Kenton led 7-6.

The Wildcats scored twice more in the first quarter, the first time on a 9-yard pass from Hites to Deardorff at the 3:27 mark, and the second on a 43-yard pass from Hites to Hunter Moore. Hites kicked both PATs and Kenton led 21-6 when the first quarter ended.

Van Wert, which had the ball when the first period ended, completed a scoring drive when Pierce hit Nate Place for a 4-yard scoring strike with 11:9 remaining in the quarter. The PAT was again no good and it was 21-12, Kenton.

Both teams struggled on their next possession, but the Wildcats scored again with just 22 seconds left in the first half when Hites found Deardorff again for a 20-yard touchdown. Hites again kicked the point-after and Kenton led 28-12 at the half.

The Wildcats scored once in the third quarter, when Jaron Sharp ran a punt back 78 yards for a score at the 1:07 mark to make it 35-12 after Hites kicked the PAT.

Kenton scored again in the fourth quarter on a 36-yard run by Hites at the 6:32 mark. He kicked the conversion and it was 42-12, Wildcats.

The final score in the game came when Kenton reserve quarterback Trent Heichelderfer hit London Rush and he ran 63 yards for the score. The PAT was no good and it was 48-12.

Hites and Heichelderfer were 30 of 47 for 469 yards passing and five TDs. Kenton ran for 85 yards on 19 carries, while the Cougars had 71 yards rushing on 35 carries.

The score could have been more lopsided, but penalties hurt Kenton, which compiled 130 yards of penalty yards during the game. The Cougars had 70 yards in penalties.

Deardorff had seven catches in the game for 158 yards and three touchdowns, while Moore caught five passes for 104 yards and a TD. Jacoby Kelly caught seven passes for 91 yards for the Cougars, while Gutierrez had four catches for 43 yards and a touchdown, and Place caught seven passes for 44 yards and a TD.

Kenton is now 2-3 overall, and 2-2 in the WBL, while Van Wert is now 0-5 and 0-4 in league play. Next week is homecoming and the Cougars will play the Elida Bulldogs, who lost 35-7 to St. Marys on Friday. The game will begin at 7 p.m. at Eggerss Stadium.