{"id":198756,"date":"2025-10-25T00:13:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T05:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=198756"},"modified":"2025-10-25T08:21:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T13:21:05","slug":"cougars-win-finale-52-18-over-kenton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2025\/10\/25\/cougars-win-finale-52-18-over-kenton\/","title":{"rendered":"Cougars win finale 52-18 over Kenton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

In Friday night\u2019s season finale, Van Wert crafted a 17-0 halftime lead then scored the game\u2019s final three touchdowns en route to a 52-18 win over Kenton at Cougar Alumni Field at Eggerss Stadium. The game was played in front of some members, cheerleaders, coaches and others from the 2000 Division III state runner-up team. That group was honored during pregame festivities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cougars finished 5-5 (4-5 WBL), but did not qualify for the playoffs in Division IV Region 14. The top 12 teams per region qualify this year and it appears the Cougars finished 15th in the region. Official computer ranking standings will be released on Sunday. Kenton finished 1-9 (1-8 WBL).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sure handed Micah Cowan had several key receptions vs. Kenton. Bob Barnes\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Zach Crummey threw two of his four touchdown passes in the first half \u2013 a 28-yard toss to Micah Cowan on Van Wert\u2019s first possession of the game and an 8-yard pass to Cowan late in the second quarter. Sandwiched in between was a 22-yard field goal by Griffin McCracken, who finished the season 4-for-4 on field goal attempts. Meanwhile, the defense kept the normally potent Kenton passing game bottled up in the first half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe defense really stepped up,\u201d Van Wert head coach Keith Recker said. \u201cWe were really nervous about the way Kenton was playing on offense but I thought we did a really good job all around defensively. The line got some pressure, which we hadn\u2019t gotten a lot of all year, our linebackers did a good job taking away the screens and our defensive backs had a really good game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third quarter was a different story, as the two teams combined for six touchdowns. Xavier Kelly accounted for two of Van Wert\u2019s touchowns in the period \u2013 a 2-yard run to cap off the opening drive of the second half, and a 34-yard pass from Crummey that put the Cougars ahead 31-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cZach threw the ball real well and he did a good job of hitting what was open,\u201d Recker said. \u201cHe stayed patient \u2013 he didn\u2019t force it and just took what they gave him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenton scored back-to-back touchdowns on a 48-yard pass from Zayne Perkins to Amiel Huff and a 22-yard pass from Xavier Gammon to Maddux McFarlin that made it 31-18, but from there, the Cougars secured the win with a 1-yard touchdown run by Crummey with just 15 seconds left in the third quarter, a 10-yard pass that caromed off Cowan and into the hands of Kelly in the back of the end zone, and a 7-yard scoring run by Kelly nearly halfway through the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Crummey completed 28-of-36 passes for 358 yards and four touchdowns. Evan Keuneke was a frequent target, catching eight passes for 73 yards. Cowan cross the 1,000 yard receiving mark for the season by catching six passes for 91 yards and a pair of touchdowns, Kelly had five receptions for 69 yards and two touchdowns, Keaten Welch had five grabs for 41 yards and Geary Hilleary finished with three receptions for 44 yards. Kelly ran for 114 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries and the Cougars rolled up 497 yards of total offense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gammon completed 26-of-47 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns, but the freshman quarterback was intercepted three times, all in the fourth quarter,  by Caine Shobe, Cohen Bragg and Cowan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game marked the end for 13 Van Wert seniors \u2013 Hilleary, McCracken, Kaiven Welch, Cam Werts, Finley Dickinson, Colton Richardson, Caine Shobe, Briggs Wallace, Trevor Dotson, Payton Morefield, Javon Smith, Nick Edwards, and Conner Harris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy for them to get this win but I told them I really appreciate the way they treated their teammates and made everyone feel like a part of the team, freshman through senior,\u201d Recker said.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Xavier Kelly reaches the end zone. Bob Barnes photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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

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

9:43 VW \u2013 Zach Crummey 28-yard pass to Micah Cowan (Griffin McCracken kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

7:43 VW \u2013 Griffin McCracken 22-yard field goal<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1:55 VW \u2013 Zach Crummey 8-yard pass to Micah Cowan (Griffin McCracken kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

9:46 VW \u2013 Xavier Kelly 2-yard run (Griffin McCracken kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7:09 K \u2013 Xavier Gammon 41-yard pass to Zayne Perkins (pass failed)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5:32 VW \u2013 Zach Crummey 34-yard pass to Xavier Kelly (Griffin McCracken kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4:48 K \u2013 Zayne Perkins 48-yard pass to Amiel Huff (pass failed)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1:59 K \u2013 Xavier Gammon 22-yard pass to Maddux McFarlin (pass failed)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0:15 VW \u2013 Zach Crummey 1-yard run (Griffin McCracken kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

9:46 VW \u2013 Zach Crummey 10-yard pass to Xavier Kelly (Griffin McCracken kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6:12 VW \u2013 Xavier Kelly 7-yard run (Griffin McCracken kick)<\/p>\n\n\n

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Keaten Welch (1) tries to elude a pair of Kenton defenders. Bob Barnes photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports In Friday night\u2019s season finale, Van Wert crafted a 17-0 halftime lead then scored the game\u2019s final three touchdowns en route to a 52-18 win over Kenton at Cougar Alumni Field at Eggerss Stadium. The game was played in front of some members, cheerleaders, coaches and others from the 2000 Division III […]<\/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-198756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 23:50:44","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\/198756","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=198756"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":198778,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198756\/revisions\/198778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}