{"id":209450,"date":"2026-08-29T00:01:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T05:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=209450"},"modified":"2026-08-29T18:07:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T23:07:42","slug":"van-wert-d-stymies-elida-bulldogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/08\/29\/van-wert-d-stymies-elida-bulldogs\/","title":{"rendered":"Van Wert “D” stymies Elida Bulldogs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

When it counted, Van Wert\u2019s defense rose to the occasion in the Western Buckeye League opener against Elida Friday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clinging to a 21-14 third quarter lead, the Cougars (2-0, 1-0 WBL) had to punt the ball away and Elida took over at its own 21-yard line. The Bulldogs promptly drove to the Van Wert 11-yard line, only to be turned away on downs, which preserved the one touchdown lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey stepped up,\u201d Van Wert head coach Keith Recker said of his defense. \u201cThey were looking rough late second quarter on. We had to tighten things up, move some linebackers and the guys responded to that real well. They stepped up in big situations and didn\u2019t let the moment bother them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Elida defenders can’t stop Xavier Kelly (11) as he heads to the end zone. Bob Barnes\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Van Wert went three-and-out on its next possession and again, the Cougars stopped Elida (1-1, 0-1 WBL), this time on fourth and inches at the Bulldog 47-yard line. With the aid of a personal foul penalty on the Bulldogs, Van Wert then made it to the Elida 17-yard line but had to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Alex Benner, who boomed it through the uprights for his first varsity field goal to make it 24-14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou could feel it on the sidelines, kind of like a sigh of relief, we\u2019re going be okay, we have a two-score lead,\u201d Recker said of Benner\u2019s field goal. \u201cCoach (Bryce) Crea always wants to go for it \u2013 he\u2019ll go for it on fourth and 30 \u2013 but Alex has been doing a really good job of kicking and I\u2019m really happy for him to get that, it was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elida\u2019s ensuing possession was over in four plays, all incompletions due in part to a ferocious pass rush by Van Wert. Starting at the 40, the Cougars put together a drive that ended with Xavier Kelly\u2019s fourth touchdown of the night, a 9-yard run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t mind putting his shoulder down at all and running through guys,\u201d Recker said. \u201cIt kind of makes me nervous sometimes that he\u2019s willing to be so physical but his game has really evolved and he can do everything from catching balls to running around people or running through people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelly\u2019s run was his fourth touchdown of the game, marking the second straight game the junior running back accounted for four scores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Cougars took the opening kickoff and marched downfield and scored on a 3-yard run by Kelly, who scored again in the first quarter on a 13-yard run. The opening drive was highlighted by a 33-yard pass on a reverse from Easton Putman to Micah Cowan. In the second quarter, Kelly took a 5-yard swing pass from Zach Crummey and turned it into a 60-yard touchdown grab, making it 21-0. Van Wert seemingly went up 28-0 late in the opening period when Caden Collins intercepted a Jonan Snyder pass and raced down the home sideline for a touchdown, but it was called back for a block in the back penalty. The Cougars then lost the ball via a fumble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even so, it looked as though Van Wert might run away with the game but Elida fought back and scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with just 35 seconds left until halftime. On the drive, Snyder went 5-for-5 for 46 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bulldogs took the second half kickoff and put together a 10-play 70-yard drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown run on a toss sweep by Joseph Reddick. That, coupled with the extra point by Hunter Lawson, closed the gap to 21-14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snyder finished the game 24-of-42 for 286 yards and a touchdown, a 43-yard pass to Larry Smith with under a minute left in the game. Smith caught eight passes for 157 yards, while Jayden Siefker had nine receptions for 82 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Van Wert’s defense came up big in critical situations. Bob Barnes photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Crummey finished 17-of-27 for 173 yards and a touchdown. Cowan had seven receptions for 68 yards, while Kelly had three grabs for 69 yards. Keaten Welch hauled in four passes for 44 yards. Kelly rushed for 67 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries while Crummey added 64 yards on 12 totes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert will play its first road game of the season on Friday at Bath. The Wildcats (0-2, 0-1 WBL) lost to St. Marys Memorial 35-14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re well coached, they do a great job with their offense spreading the ball around,\u201d Recker said. \u201cIt\u2019ll be a little different game but we\u2019ll be ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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

VW \u2013 Xavier Kelly 3-yard run (Alex Benner kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VW \u2013 Xavier Kelly 13-yard run (Alex Benner kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

VW \u2013 Zach Crummey 60-yard pass to Xavier Kelly (Alex Benner kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E \u2013 17-yard touchdown run (Hunter Lawson kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

E \u2013 Joseph Reddick 3-yard run (Hunter Lawson kick)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

VW \u2013 Alex Benner 24-yard field goal<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VW \u2013 Xavier Kelly 9-yard run<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E \u2013 Jonan Snyder 43-yard pass to Larry Smith (Hunter Lawson kick)<\/p>\n\n\n

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Zach Crummey (14) prepares to barrel over an Elida defender. Bob Barnes photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports When it counted, Van Wert\u2019s defense rose to the occasion in the Western Buckeye League opener against Elida Friday night. Clinging to a 21-14 third quarter lead, the Cougars (2-0, 1-0 WBL) had to punt the ball away and Elida took over at its own 21-yard line. The Bulldogs promptly drove to […]<\/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-209450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-10 00:34:02","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\/209450","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=209450"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209473,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209450\/revisions\/209473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}