{"id":81117,"date":"2016-10-22T08:49:49","date_gmt":"2016-10-22T13:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=81117"},"modified":"2016-10-22T08:49:49","modified_gmt":"2016-10-22T13:49:49","slug":"cougars-lose-to-defiance-in-wbl-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2016\/10\/22\/cougars-lose-to-defiance-in-wbl-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Cougars lose to Defiance in WBL battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The Defiance Bulldogs scored three rushing touchdowns, then used a mid-fourth quarter interception return for a touchdown to defeat Van Wert 27-14.<\/p>\n

The loss spoiled the 2016 home finale and Senior Night for the Cougars (0-9, 0-8 WBL).<\/p>\n

Playing without leading rusher Tylon Richard (injury), the Bulldogs (2-7, 2-6 WBL) turned to Jackson Meter, who scored on two one-yard touchdown runs.<\/p>\n

\"Van
Van Wert quarterback Storm Pierce (13) looks for a receiver downfield during Friday’s game against Defiance. The Cougars lost 27-14 in its last home game of the season.<\/strong> Jan Dunlap\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first came with 25 seconds left in the first quarter, and the extra point by Sammy Assaf gave Defiance a 7-0 lead.<\/p>\n

Van Wert had a chance to score early the second quarter. The Cougars had it first-and-goal at the Defiance two-yard line, but failed to capitalize and turned it over on downs.<\/p>\n

The Cougars did score with 7:14 left in the quarter, when Storm Pierce connected with Nate Place for a 40-yard touchdown pass. Jordon Danylchuk\u2019s extra point kick was good, and the game was tied at seven.<\/p>\n

But Defiance scored twice more before halftime, on a 31-yard run by Eric Lee with 4:22 left, then Meter\u2019s second one-yard touchdown run with 17 seconds left, to grab a 20-7 halftime lead.<\/p>\n

Van Wert played inspired defense early in the third quarter. Danylchuck intercepted Defiance quarterback Javen Newton\u2019s pass, leading to a one-play scoring drive, a 29-yard touchdown pass from Pierce to Place.<\/p>\n

The PAT by Danylchuck trimmed the Defiance lead to 20-14 with 11:06 left in the quarter but that was as close as the Cougars would get.<\/p>\n

Both teams traded fumbles and interceptions later in the third quarter, but neither team was able to capitalize on the other\u2019s miscues until the 6:08 mark in the fourth quarter, when Braden Frederick intercepted a Pierce pass and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown. The ensuing PAT was good, making it 27-14.<\/p>\n

\u201cMissed tackles killed us,\u201d Van Wert head coach Keith Recker said. \u201cWe missed tackles at critical times, and gave up some third-and-tens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were inconsistent offensively and defensively,\u201d Recker added.<\/p>\n

Offensively, the Cougars finished with minus-25 yards rushing.<\/p>\n

Pierce was able to complete 12 of 21 passes for 127 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, but was shaken up in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a tough kid, but he took a shot to the head and may be out next week,\u201d Recker said.<\/p>\n

Nate Place caught six passes for 93 yards and two touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Defiance will finish the season at Lima Shawnee, while the Cougars will close out their season at Wapakoneta this coming Friday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports The Defiance Bulldogs scored three rushing touchdowns, then used a mid-fourth quarter interception return for a touchdown to defeat Van Wert 27-14. The loss spoiled the 2016 home finale and Senior Night for the Cougars (0-9, 0-8 WBL). Playing without leading rusher Tylon Richard (injury), the Bulldogs (2-7, 2-6 WBL) turned 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-81117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 21:45:03","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\/81117","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=81117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}