VAN WERT – A week removed from their first loss of the season the Van Wert Cougars rebounded in a big way as they surpassed a handful of school and opponent records in a 70-41 victory over visiting St. Marys.
Senior quarterback Aidan opened the flood gates for the Cougars scoring on the first offensive play from scrimmage for his squad following a St. Marys punt by hooking up with Conner Campbell for a 47-yard score to put the hosts on top 7-0.
Utilizing a 25-yard jaunt from Brayden Sullivan to push the ball out to midfield the Roughriders tied the game up barely a minute later when senior running back Aiden Hinkle blitzed his way 51 yards for his eighth score of the season through the heart of the Cougar defense.
Van Wert would lose the time of possession game 28:57 to 14:32 on the evening but turned the game back in their favor on their next drive with a nine play outing lasting just over two minutes and finishing with a Brylen Parker rush from two yards out.
Trailing 14-7 the Roughriders pulled a page out of their opponents book and moved quickly from their own 28 and in for a Cody Wallace score thanks to a 45-yard scamper from Keegan Sharpe across midfield early in the drive.
Although the Riders were successful in recovering an onside kick, their time with the football was short lived thanks to safety Reese Krugh who snagged a Cody Wallace offering for his league leading third interception of the season.
Touchdowns receptions from Conner Campbell (43 yards), and Garrett Gunter (27 yards) on the next two possessions for Van Wert ran the lead to 28-14 with 5:44 remaining in the half.
Western Buckeye League leading rusher Aiden Hinkle notched his fourth game of the season with a pair of rushing touchdowns on the subsequent St. Marys drive as he raced 46 yards to the endzone to cut the deficit to 28-21 with 4:57 left in the period.
Unfortunately for the blue and gold their time within a score was short lived thanks to the quick strike offense of the Cougars who used the third hookup of the first half between Pratt and Campbell, this time from 20 yards to take a 35-21 lead they would hold into the break.
“Our teammates came to practice on Monday and it was the best practice we’ve had all year, we kept the energy through tonight and it felt great” said Campbell following the breakout game that would see him haul in 12 passes for what is believed to be a Van Wert record 262 yards receiving to go along with his four touchdowns.
Opening the second half following a kneel down that saw the end to their only drive in the first half without a score attached to it, the Cougars raced 45 yards in eight plays and out to a 42-21 advantage thanks to a one yard plunge from Pratt for his second score of the year on the ground.
Tasked with picking up a long fourth down on their first possession of the second half the Riders fell short on a reverse pass intended for Brayden Sullivan and were forced to once again hand over the football to the white hot Cougars offense.
One play 59 yards is all the hosts needed to push themselves within striking distance of the 50 point mark with 4:44 to go in the third thanks to a toss from Pratt that found the waiting arms of Nate Phillips behind the Roughrider defense for a score.
St. Marys moved the football quickly to get back to a three score game on a drive that began with a 48 yard rush by Aiden Hinkle and ended with Brayden Sullivan’s third touchdown of the season to trim the deficit to 49-28.
Thanks to great blocking up front from his offensive line, Pratt took matters into his own hands once Van Wert began at the Rider 38 and rushed in from 23 yards with under a minute left in the third.
Continuing to trade scores, the Roughriders picked up a 36 yard gain by Sullivan and watched as Sharpe dented the scoreboard with a 23-yard effort to cut the lead again back to 21.
Sandwiched between a pair of touchdowns, a strike of 47 yards to Campbell and a two yard run by Parker was the third St. Marys interception of the evening, a heads up play by Luke Wessell to set the Cougars up inside opponent territory.
The games final marker came from the visitors as Wallace was pushed in on a sneak from the one after being set up on an 88-yard kickoff return by Keegan Sharpe.
Once a final knee from Pratt hit the Eggerss Stadium grass, the senior night victory was complete by the tune on 70-41. Van Wert’s 70 points represent the most ever scored on St. Marys and are the most since Kenton defeated the Riders 66-14 in 2013 and the second most overall dating back to a 99-0 loss to Ada in 1912.
St. Marys amassed 407 yards on the ground and was led by Hinkle who carried 25 times for a career high 246 yards to go along with a pair of touchdowns. Next week the Roughriders (3-2, 2-2) will head to Lima to battle the Shawnee Indians.
Van Wert, ranked #11 in the Division 4 polls this week moves to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in Western Buckeye League play and will take on 1-4 Ottawa Glandorf on Friday evening.
Quarterback Aidan Pratt finished the evening 24 of 28 throwing the ball with six touchdowns and a possible school record 457 yards through the air and was joined by classmate Damon McCracken who booted a record 10 extra point attempts through the uprights in the victory.
Head coach Keith Recker after the game heaped praise on the performance of junior wideout Conner Campbell by saying “two years ago Dru Johnson had a huge night against these guys at the same position Connor plays, so you’re kinda thinking that Connor just hasn’t gone off this year yet because there’s so many pieces around him, but he put on full display tonight what he can do.”
Recker continued to heap praise, this time about St. Marys, saying “this was huge for us, a very good team in our region that is good in all of D4, to put on the display we did it should give us a lot of confidence going forward.”
In all the two squads combined for 1,040 yards of total offense.