{"id":134529,"date":"2020-08-28T23:41:42","date_gmt":"2020-08-29T04:41:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=134529"},"modified":"2020-08-28T23:42:12","modified_gmt":"2020-08-29T04:42:12","slug":"vws-treece-jackson-shine-vs-elida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2020\/08\/28\/vws-treece-jackson-shine-vs-elida\/","title":{"rendered":"VW’s Treece, Jackson shine vs. Elida"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Owen Treece tossed five touchdown passes and ran for another score and Van Wert opened the 2020 high school football season with a 55-20 Western Buckeye League win over Elida at Eggerss Stadium on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, running back Nate Jackson scored a pair of rushing touchdowns and caught two touchdown passes, and the defense recovered three Elida fumbles and intercepted two passes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
VW’s Nate Jackson (20) and Owen Treece (7). Jerry Mason photo<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was definitely a good season opener,\u201d Van Wert head coach Keith Recker said. \u201cEven the last couple of years we haven\u2019t been great at creating turnovers, but I was proud of our defense getting us going there and giving our offense good field position.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t take care of the ball very well,\u201d Elida head coach Kyle Harmon said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been preaching ball security but in the end that falls back on me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jackson scored on a 51-yard run at the 10:11 mark of the first quarter, but Damon McCracken\u2019s PAT was blocked. Elida took a 7-6 lead on a 35-yard touchdown run by Andrew Etzkorn and the ensuing extra point by Tyler Long with 6:12 remaining in the opening period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, the Cougars scored 35 unanswered points. Jackson\u2019s one-yard run and McCracken\u2019s PAT put the Cougars ahead for good 13-7, followed by a 12-yard by Treece and a two-point conversion. Jackson grabbed a five-yard touchdown pass from Treece to put Van Wert ahead 28-7 early in the second quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so good to have him, obviously he got hurt last year in Week No. 1 against Bryan but as a sophomore he was showing some things that he could do and now as a junior he\u2019s bigger, faster and stronger,\u201d Recker said of Jackson. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy we need to make sure gets carries and gets touches on the edge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Jackson finished with 66 yards on seven carries and had four receptions for 52 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Treece lobbed a perfect 35-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Maddix Crutchfield with 3:36 left in the second quarter, then the junior quarterback connected with Jackson again, this time from 21 yards out, giving the Cougars a 41-7 halftime lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe does a really good job of spreading the ball out \u2013 we have four or five guys we want to get the ball to and I think he understands what we\u2019re trying to do,\u201d Recker said of Treece. \u201cHe\u2019s such a competitor and a good athlete, and I think he\u2019s going to continue to get better each week because he puts so much work into it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elida opened the second half with an eight-play, 67-yard drive that ended with a 10-yard run by quarterback Larkin Henderson. However, Treece responded by firing his fourth touchdown pass of the game, a 23-yarder to Ian Cowan, who wrestled the ball away from a defender in the end zone, putting the Cougars ahead 48-14 and triggering the running clock rule for the remainder of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elida fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Treece followed up by firing an eight-yard strike to Aidan Pratt with 11:11 left in the game. Treece finished the night 18 of 23 for 257 yards, and 14 carries for 55 yards. Connor Pratt caught four passes for 63 yards and Dru Johnson had three grabs for 48 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elida\u2019s Tyler Carter scored the game\u2019s final touchdown on a three-yard run with 2:53 left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While pleased with the win, Recker noted there\u2019s room for improvement and he said the offensive line will be a focus of practice next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to solidify a rotation a little bit more,\u201d Recker explained. \u201cWith fewer scrimmages we were rotating a lot of guys in, so with each week we\u2019re going to continue to grade film and see what gives us the best opportunity. Finding the right mix will be big.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cougars will host Defiance on Friday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scoring summary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st quarter<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

VW \u2013 Nate Jackson 51-yard run (PAT blocked)
E \u2013 Andrew Etzkorn 35-yard run (Tyler Long PAT)
VW \u2013 Nate Jackson 1-yard run (Damon McCracken PAT)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2nd quarter<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

VW \u2013 Owen Treece 12-yard run (2-point conversion good)
VW \u2013 Owen Treece 5-yard pass to Nate Jackson (McCracken kick)
VW \u2013 Owen Treece 35-yard pass to Maddix Crutchfield (McCracken kick)
VW \u2013 Owen Treece 21-yard pass to Nate Jackson (PAT failed)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3rd quarter<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

E \u2013 Larkin Henderson 10-yard run (Tyler Long kick)
VW \u2013 Owen Treece 23-yard pass to Ian Cowan (McCracken kick)
VW \u2013 Owen Treece 8-yard pass to Aidan Pratt (McCracken kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4th quarter<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

E \u2013 Tyler Carter 3-yard run (PAT failed)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor Owen Treece tossed five touchdown passes and ran for another score and Van Wert opened the 2020 high school football season with a 55-20 Western Buckeye League win over Elida at Eggerss Stadium on Friday. In addition, running back Nate Jackson scored a pair of rushing touchdowns and caught two touchdown […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-31 13:35:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134529\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}