{"id":185338,"date":"2024-10-26T00:12:41","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T05:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=185338"},"modified":"2024-10-26T00:13:07","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T05:13:07","slug":"cougars-ousted-from-playoff-contention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2024\/10\/26\/cougars-ousted-from-playoff-contention\/","title":{"rendered":"Cougars ousted from playoff contention"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

Van Wert\u2019s playoff hopes were dashed by Elida in the regular season finale at Cougar Alumi Field at Eggerss Stadium on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cougars, who had won three straight, led just once and had trouble containing the Bulldogs, who won the game 49-34. The loss ended Van Wert\u2019s season at 4-6 (3-6 WBL), while Elida improved to 3-7 (2-7 WBL) and clinched a playoff spot in Division IV Region 14, according to the website joeeitel.com<\/a>. The OHSAA\u2019s official playoff standings and pairings will be announced Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Van Wert’s Nate Gearhart (5) catches a touchdown pass in the first quarter. Bob Barnes\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI told the kids this probably isn\u2019t going to be the hardest thing they have to go through,\u201d Van Wert head coach Keith Recker said. \u201cHopefully they can remember being 1-5 and not giving up and hopefully they remember that refusal to quit and take that with them for a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert\u2019s only lead came on the game\u2019s opening drive, which was capped off by a 24-yard touchdown pass from Briston Wise to Nate Gearhart on fourth and 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elida scored twice in the first quarter, on a 64-yard touchdown sprint by Cameron Kaufman and a nine yard touchdown run by A\u2019mari Wash. Isaac Jones kicked the PAT after each touchdown and went on to enjoy a 7-of-7 night on extra points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wise scored from two yards out to start the second quarter but Griff McCracken\u2019s extra point was blocked, leaving the score 14-13. Elida then scored twice more in the period, once on a three yard run by Wash and ater a Van Wert fumble, a 19-yard pass from Ryan McGue to Wash just 19 seconds later. The Bulldogs had one other scoring opportunity late in the second quarter but it was thrwarted when Micah Cowan intercepted McGue in the end zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elida scored just 60 seconds into the third quarter, when McGue tossed an 81-yard touchdown pass to Wash, who went on to finish with nine receptions for 203 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 38 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries. He also had an 83-yard touchdown run wiped out by a penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Another impact player for Elida was 6-3, 235 pound defensive end Parker Crim, who spent most of the game in the Cougar backfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you can put three men up front that get that kind of rush and we were keeping six, sometimes seven in to protect \u2013 that makes it really difficult to get much going through the passing game,\u201d Recker said. \u201cHe\u2019s a beast and a load. It\u2019s good for some of our juniors to see that caliber of player and makes us better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert scored back-to-back touchdowns in the third quarter \u2013 a 40-yard run by Wise and a 34-yard touchdown pass from Wise to Xavier Kelly that pulled the Cougars to within eight, 35-27, but Elida put the game out of reach with a pair of fourth quarter scores \u2013 a three yard run by McGue and a 33-yard run by Kaufman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was kind of the story of the night \u2013 close but not quite there but I know our guys battled,\u201d Recker said. \u201cBriston battled and those guys up front with him and defensively we tried our best, it wasn\u2019t for a lack of effort. We just couldn\u2019t get those breaks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert last score of the season came on a 65-yard touchdown pass from Wise to Cowan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wise tallied 20 carries for 128 yards and two touchdowns and finished as the Western Buckeye League\u2019s rushing champion. He also completed 22-of-37 passes for 214 yards. His favorite targets were Cowan (6-82, touchdown) and Keaten Welch, who finished with seven receptions for 68 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cougars finished with 346 yards of total offense while Elida rolled to 520 yards of offense. McGue completed 11-of-20 passes for 295 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Kaufman rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unofficially, Elida is the No. 15 seed in Region 14 and will travel to No. 2 seed Shelby Friday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Micah Cowan (10) intercepts a pass intended for A’mari Wash. 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

VW (8:08) \u2013 Briston Wise 24-yard pass to Nate Gearhart (Griff McCracken kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E (6:44) \u2013 Cameron Kaufman 64-yard run (Isaac Jones kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E (0:25) \u2013 A\u2019mari Wash 9-yard run (Isaac Jones kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

VW (10:21) \u2013 Briston Wise 2-yard run (kick blocked)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E (6:35) \u2013 A\u2019mari Wash 4-yard run (Isaac Jones kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E (6:16) \u2013 Ryan McGue 19-yard pass to A\u2019mari Wash (Isaac Jones kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

E (11:00) \u2013 Ryan McGue 81-yard pass to A\u2019mari Wash (Isaac Jones kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VW (7:14) \u2013 Briston Wise 17-yard run (Griff McCracken kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VW (1:17) \u2013 Briston Wise 34-yard pass to Xavier Kelly (Griff McCracken kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

E (8:17) \u2013 Ryan McGue 3-yard run (Isaac Jones kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E (4:40) \u2013 Cameron Kaufman 33-yard run (Isaac Jones kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VW (3:53) \u2013 Briston Wise 65-yard pass to Micah Cowan (Griff McCracken kick)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports Van Wert\u2019s playoff hopes were dashed by Elida in the regular season finale at Cougar Alumi Field at Eggerss Stadium on Friday. The Cougars, who had won three straight, led just once and had trouble containing the Bulldogs, who won the game 49-34. The loss ended Van Wert\u2019s season at 4-6 (3-6 […]<\/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-185338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 11:19:53","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\/185338","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=185338"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185348,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185338\/revisions\/185348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}