{"id":169440,"date":"2023-08-26T00:42:13","date_gmt":"2023-08-26T05:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=169440"},"modified":"2023-08-26T16:23:52","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T21:23:52","slug":"parker-pushes-cougars-by-bath-64-42","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2023\/08\/26\/parker-pushes-cougars-by-bath-64-42\/","title":{"rendered":"Parker pushes Cougars by Bath 64-42"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

Brylen Parker accounted for nine touchdowns and Van Wert christened the new artificial turf at the new look Eggerss Stadium with a 64-42 shootout win over Bath in the Western Buckeye League opener on Friday. The victory extended Van Wert\u2019s home winning streak to 20 games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parker ran for five scores and passed for four more. He completed 16-of-21 passes for 366 yards and had 24 carries for 215 yards. A sixth rushing touchdown (63 yards, first quarter) was wiped out by a holding call. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Brylen Parker (7) made five trips to the end zone vs. Bath. He had a sixth touchdown called back, but he added four touchdown passes. Bob Barnes\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert trailed 21-7 early in the second quarter but entered halftime tied 35-35. The Cougars then seized control in the third quarter with a two touchdown scoring advantage. After an exchange of punts, Van Wert moved 44 yards in five plays and scored on an eight yard run by Parker, then after forcing another Bath punt, the Cougars took over at their own 22 and scored on a 50-yard pass from Parker to Reese Krugh. Another key moment came on the next drive, when the Wildcats drove to the Van Wert seven, only to be turned away on downs. The Cougars marched 93 yards in 10 plays and scored on a two yard run by Parker, who then added the two point conversion after a bobbled snap to push the lead to 57-35.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought we did a good job defensively coming out after the half,\u201d Van Wert head coach Keith Recker said. \u201cWe just weren\u2019t getting to our gaps so we started bringing pressure and started playing man in the secondary. Once we got stops it really turned to our favor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert\u2019s final score came with 7:04 left in the game, when Parker connected with Conner Campbell, who tightroped the sideline for a 41-yard touchdown. Campbell finished with 10 receptions for 166 yards and two touchdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Bath led 14-7 after the first quarter, with Van Wert\u2019s touchdown coming on a 53-yard strike from Parker to Krugh, who went on to finish with three receptions for 114 yards and two touchdowns. The Wildcat lead was stretched to 21-7 when Skylar Lhamon raced in from four yards out less than 90 seconds into the second quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cougars tied the game 21-21 with a 19-yard touchdown run by Parker and a seven yard pass from Parker to Campbell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBack in early August when things didn\u2019t go right in practice you would get some bickering and things like that,\u201d Recker said. \u201cWe had numerous penalties and they never got on each other it was always \u2018next play.\u2019 The way they handled that adversity tonight and it was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bath answered immediately with a 78-yard scoring pass from Zach Welsch to Ethan Cole, making it 28-21. Parker added a 31-yard touchdown sprint and a 10-yard touchdown run to give Van Wert a 35-28 lead, but the Wildcats tied the game with a one yard touchdown run by Welsch, who went on to finish 10-of-21 for 175 yards, plus three rushing touchdowns. Mikey Hale gashed the Cougar defense for 191 yards on 23 carries, including 156 yards by halftime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u201cWe had a great practice on Wednesday but we need to practice better on Monday and Tuesday when we\u2019re putting in the game plan offensively and defensively so we don\u2019t have the mistakes,\u201d Recker said of preparing for the Bulldogs. \u201cWe can\u2019t make mistakes against Celina\u2026we found that out last year when they were up 7-0. We can\u2019t just waltz in and think we\u2019re going to win so hopefully we\u2019re more focused.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Conner Campbell (3) gets a block from Colin Haggerty (9) and heads downfield. Bob Barnes photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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

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

B (8:02) \u2013 Keaton Vernon 1-yard run (kick blocked)
VW (7:15) \u2013 Brylen Parker 53-yard pass to Reese Krugh (Griff McCracken kick)
B (1:09) \u2013 Zach Welsch 11-yard run (Skylar Lhamon run)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

B (10:39) \u2013 Skylar Lhamon 4-yard run (Isaac Walls kick)
VW (7:12) \u2013 Brylen Parker 7-yard pass to Conner Campbell (Griff McCracken kick)
VW (5:01) \u2013 Brylen Parker 19-yard run (Griff McCracken kick)
B (4:08) Zach Welsch 78-yard pass to Ethan Cole (Isaac Walls kick)
VW (3:08) \u2013 Brylen Parker 31-yard run (Griff McCracken kick)
VW (2:44) \u2013 Brylen Parker 10-yard run (Griff McCracken kick)
B (:11) \u2013 Zach Welsch 1-yard run (Isaac Walls kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

VW (7:55) \u2013 Brylen Parker 8-yard run (Griff McCracken kick)
VW (3:46) \u2013 Brylen Parker 50-yard pass to Reese Krugh (Griff McCracken kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

VW (9:33) \u2013 Brylen Parker 41-yard pass to Conner Campbell (Griff McCracken kick)
B (3:03) \u2013 Zach Welsch 6-yard run (Isaac Walls kick)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor Brylen Parker accounted for nine touchdowns and Van Wert christened the new artificial turf at the new look Eggerss Stadium with a 64-42 shootout win over Bath in the Western Buckeye League opener on Friday. The victory extended Van Wert\u2019s home winning streak to 20 games. Parker ran for five scores and […]<\/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-169440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-31 17:40:57","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\/169440","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=169440"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169474,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169440\/revisions\/169474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}