{"id":145867,"date":"2021-09-10T23:39:41","date_gmt":"2021-09-11T04:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=145867"},"modified":"2021-09-10T23:40:16","modified_gmt":"2021-09-11T04:40:16","slug":"van-wert-wins-55-45-shootout-over-wapak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2021\/09\/10\/van-wert-wins-55-45-shootout-over-wapak\/","title":{"rendered":"Van Wert wins 55-45 shootout over Wapak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

In a game that featured a number of big plays, six touchdowns in the third quarter alone and 1,100 yards of total offense, three fourth quarter plays stood out on Friday night at Eggerss Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of those plays belonged to Van Wert. One was an open field tackle on first and goal from the eight and the other was a 12-yard run on third and five. Those two plays, plus a key intentional grounding penalty on Wapakoneta allowed the Cougars to seal a wild 55-45 win over the visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Aidan Pratt ran and passed the undefeated Cougars to a 55-45 victory over Wapakoneta on Friday night. Pratt accounted for five touchdowns in the game. Photo courtesy of Jerry Mason<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Dating back to last season, it was the 11th straight win by Van Wert (4-0, 3-0 WBL), while Wapakoneta dropped to 2-2 (2-1 WBL).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a great effort by both teams,\u201d Van Wert head coach Keith Recker said. \u201cThey had a great game plan offensively and we had a great game plan offensively. It was a great one to watch and a fun battle to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trailing 49-42 after three quarters, Wapakoneta quarterback Braedan Goulet opened the final period with a 52-yard pass to Kaleb Walter, which set the Redskins up with first and goal from the eight. However, Trey Laudick stepped up and stopped running back Jace Mullen for no gain on first down and three plays later, Kyle Beach kicked a 21-yard field goal to make it a four-point game, 49-45.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrey made a huge play to get that stop and hold them to a field goal and that was a huge shift there,\u201d Recker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert answered with a 10-play, 65-yard drive that ended with Brylen Parker\u2019s one-yard touchdown run that gave the Cougars a 10-point cushion with 4:22 left. Aidan Pratt scrambled for 12 yards on third and five to keep the drive alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe obviously didn\u2019t want to give them the ball back there and I just can\u2019t say enough about Aidan\u2019s effort tonight,\u201d Recker said. \u201cWe counted on him to run the ball a lot more tonight while still doing his thing through the air. It was a great effort by him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wapakoneta was hit with an intentional grounding penalty on the ensuing drive, which put the Redskins in third and 22 and led to a turnover on downs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laudick opened the game with a bang, returning the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown, but Goulet answered with a 52-yard touchdown pass to Mullen that tied the game at the 7:39 mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Pratt ran 11 yards for a touchdown less than two minutes later but Mullen responded with a 10-yard scoring run to tie the game 14-14. However, Van Wert answered in one play, a 62-yard pass from Pratt to Parker. The extra point was no good, leaving the Cougars with a 20-14 lead, a score that stood at the end of the first quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goulet sprinted 60 yards for a touchdown and Nikane Ambos added the extra point that gave Wapakoneta a 21-20 lead with 4:18 left until halftime. It was the first time this season the Cougars trailed in a game but on the next drive, Pratt lofted a 19-yard touchdown pass to Maddix Crutchfield, a score that gave Van Wert a 28-21 halftime lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It didn\u2019t last as on the first play from scrimmage after halftime, Goulet ran 56 yards for the equalizer. The senior quarterback went on to finish with 11 carries for 223 yards and four touchdowns and he completed 6-of-12 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the next drive, the Cougars went 82 yards in eight plays and scored on a three yard touchdown pass from Pratt to Garett Gunter on fourth and three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Maddix Crutchfield muscles for yards during Friday’s WBL showdown against Wapakoneta. Jerry Mason photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

From there, the two teams traded touchdowns. Goulet scored on a two-yard run to tie the game 35-35, then Parker ran two yards to put the Cougars on top 42-35. Goulet outran the defense for a 52-yard touchdown but Pratt found Gunter again, this time for a 73-yard touchdown pass down the home sideline, a score that gave Van Wert a 49-42 lead entering the final period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the benefit of having all those guys,\u201d Recker said. \u201cThere are so many guys that we can get the ball to and Aidan understands that and coach (Cole) Harting understands that and they work to get everybody the ball. They just do a great job of finding what\u2019s open and it sounds simple but it\u2019s not always easy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Give them credit, it was a high scoring game and both teams gave a great effort tonight,\u201d Wapakoneta head coach Travis Moyer said. \u201cWe knew coming over here was going to be extremely difficult because they have a lot of guys back from the state championship team, but I\u2019m really proud of our kids\u2019 effort tonight. Obviously it was a night of big plays and they made more plays than we did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the dust settled, Pratt completed 22-of-28 passes for 315 yards and four touchdowns. Crutchfield had eight receptions for 80 yards and a score, Connor Pratt finished with five catches for 87 yards, Gunter tallied three receptions for 83 yards and two scores and Parker finished with two catches for 61 yards and a touchdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cougars also had a pair of 100-yard rushers. Pratt had 17 carries for 123 yards and a touchdown while Nate Jackson finished with 14 carries for 101 yards. Parker added eight carries for 51 yards and two scores as Van Wert rolled up 589 total yards, while Wapakoneta finished with 511 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert will travel to St. Marys Memorial on Friday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

First quarter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

VW \u2013 Trey Laudick 97-yard kickoff return (Connor Pratt kick)
W \u2013 Braedan Goulet 52-yard pass to Jace Mullins (Nikane Ambos kick)
VW \u2013 Aidan Pratt 11-yard run (Connor Pratt kick)
W \u2013 Jace Mullins 10-yard run (Nikane Ambos kick)
VW \u2013 Aidan Pratt 62-yard pass to Brylen Parker (kick failed)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second quarter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

W \u2013 Braedan Goulet 60-yard run (Nikane Ambos kick)
VW \u2013 Aidan Pratt 19-yard pass to Maddix Crutchfield (Connor Pratt kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third quarter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

W \u2013 Braedan Goulet 56-yard run (Nikane Ambos kick)
VW \u2013 Aidan Pratt 3-yard pass to Garett Gunter (Connor Pratt kick)
W \u2013 Braedan Goulet 2-yard run (Nikane Ambos kick)
VW \u2013 Brylen Parker 2-yard run (Connor Pratt kick)
W \u2013 Braedan Goulet 52-yard run (Nikane Ambos kick)
VW \u2013 Aidan Pratt 73-yard pass to Garett Gunter (Connor Pratt kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth quarter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

W \u2013 Nick Beach 21-yard field goal
VW \u2013 Brylen Parker 1-yard run (kick failed)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor In a game that featured a number of big plays, six touchdowns in the third quarter alone and 1,100 yards of total offense, three fourth quarter plays stood out on Friday night at Eggerss Stadium. Two of those plays belonged to Van Wert. One was an open field tackle on first […]<\/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-145867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-31 13:39:08","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\/145867","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=145867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}