{"id":209028,"date":"2026-08-18T20:29:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T01:29:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=209028"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:29:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T01:29:50","slug":"cougars-eye-improvement-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/08\/18\/cougars-eye-improvement-this-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Cougars eye improvement this season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

It sounds like a clich\u00e9 but it\u2019s true \u2013 football games are won and lost up front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Van Wert has plenty of offensive firepower returning, the key will be how fast a small but athletic offensive line with some new faces comes together, and how fast the defensive front can gel. Another key will be how much improvement the defense as a whole makes this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cougars, who finished 5-5 (4-5 WBL) last season return 20 letter winners and 14 starters. Among them: junior quarterback Zach Crummey (6-6, 253), junior running back Xavier Kelly (6-0, 170), and senior receivers Micah Cowan (6-2, 185) and Keaten Welch (6-0, 165), who will all operate in Van Wert\u2019s spread offense, which averaged 374 yards and 34 points per game in 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his first season as a starter, Crummey completed 181-of-266 passes for 2,339 yards, 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, including a school record 461 yards against St. Marys Memorial. He also rushed for 131 yards and nine touchdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Zach Crummey (14) and Xavier Kelly (11) will lead Van Wert’s offense this season. Bob Barnes\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWe expect Zach to lead our offense and his progression this past spring and summer gives us a ton of confidence in him,\u201d\u00a015th year head coach Keith Recker said. \u201cPhysically and mentally he is a much improved quaraterback from last year. His timing, vision, and strength are where he is excelling right now. He is going to need to get some tough yards on short yardage as well because of his size and strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crummey, who is getting interest from several Division I schools as a tight end, will be pulling double duty this season \u2013 he\u2019ll also play defensive end, after seeing spot duty there in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe is constantly improving as a defensive end as well,\u201d Recker said. \u201cHe is going to be a tough matchup because of his size and strength along with his athleticism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a sophomore, Kelly rushed for 1,193 yards and 16 touchdowns on 169 carries, while grabbing 32 passes for 418 yards and five more scores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cXavier obviously has great athleticism, speed, quickness and can score from anywhere on the field,\u201d Recker said. \u201cAn overlooked part of his game though is his strength and physical running style. He doesn\u2019t mind putting his shoulder down and running through a defender just as much as he can run around and past them. He is the whole package as a running back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cowan led the Cougars with 78 receptions for 1,038 yards and eight touchdowns, including a school record 330 yards against St. Marys Memorial, while Welch had 43 catches for 595 yards and six touchdowns. Evan Keuneke (6-0, 155 junior) returns after a 21-catch, 240 yard season and Cohen Bragg (6-4, 175) will see action at wide receiver as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The key to success, though, will be the front five on offense and the front four on defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Both lines need to have great years for us this season, both in run blocking and pass protection on the offensive side and in block destruction on the defensive side,” Recker said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maddox Workman (5-11, 200 senior) and Ben Verville (6-0, 235 senior) will start at tackle, while George Mankey (5-10, 215 junior) and Ashton Rager (6-1, 215 senior) will man the guard spots. Workman is a three year letterman, Rager has won two letters and Verville lettered last year. The center will be senior Carter Bledsoe (5-8, 170), who lettered last year and whose brother Caleb plays offensive line at Heidelberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have a ton of size up front but we do have athleticism and good strength,\u201d Recker said. \u201cThat group asks questions every day and is constantly looking to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three of Van Wert\u2019s losses last season came by a touchdown or less but in the five losses, the Cougars allowed 40 points per game. In addition, opposing teams were able to average 213 yards per game on the ground, putting the Cougars at the bottom of the WBL standings in that category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe must be able to stop the run against the good teams in our league while also still doing a good job of limiting big plays,\u201d Recker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with Crummey at defensive end, Verville, Rager and Bledsoe will try to help rectify last season’s issues up front, with Mankey providing depth. Workman and Roman Martin (5-4, 145 senior) will start at linebacker along with Caden Collins (5-10, 187 senior), who missed last season with an injury. The secondary is very experienced, with Bragg (63 tackles, two interceptions), Cowan (59 tackles, five interceptions), Welch (52 tackles, one interception), Keuneke (12 tackles) and Zander Stemen (5-11, 160 senior).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat is a solid veteran group,\u201d Recker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jace Huebner (5-11, 165 junior) and Easton Putman (5-10, 150 sophomore) will also see time in the secondary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex Benner (5-10, 175 junior) will handle both the kicking and punting duties, and Welch, Cowan and Kelly will be the return men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cougars will open the season Friday at home against Bryan, then will jump into Western Buckeye League play in Week No. 2 against Elida, at Eggerss Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur league will be very good again this year with competitive games every Friday,\u201d Recker said. \u201cWapak is on top until someone knocks them off and it looks like we will have some great battles for the league crown this season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We’re not worried about our first game or fifth game or our last game,” he continued. “This group has bought into concerning themselves with the only thing they have control of, which is their effort and focus today. This group seems to have a strong bond and a geniune excitement for their teammates successes, which is a great thing to see as a coach.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Van Wert football games will air live on WERT 1220AM\/104.3FM.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Van Wert’s defense hopes to show improvement this season. Bob Barnes photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports It sounds like a clich\u00e9 but it\u2019s true \u2013 football games are won and lost up front. While Van Wert has plenty of offensive firepower returning, the key will be how fast a small but athletic offensive line with some new faces comes together, and how fast the defensive front can gel. […]<\/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-209028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-26 01:07:33","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\/209028","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=209028"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209061,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209028\/revisions\/209061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}