VW Cougars hope to finish with a win

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

Heading into Friday’s season finale at Defiance, the Van Wert Cougars have a collective eye on a win, and a 5-5 finish.

To get the win, the Cougars will have to shake off last week’s 63-21 loss to Celina. Quarterback Nate Place missed the game due to illness, and he’s out for Friday’s matchup. Jake Hilleary and Owen Treece took snaps in his absence, and both could do so against the Bulldogs.

“Jake is going to start at quarterback,” Van Wert head coach Keith Recker said. “Both guys will play, just possibly at different positions. Jake can play tailback as well as quarterback, and Owen will play some slot receiver as well as quarterback. How much each quarterback plays really depends on how we are doing moving the ball.”

Against Celina, Hilleary completed 7 of 16 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown and he ran for a score, while Treece connected on 6 of 9 passes for 54 yards.

“The biggest thing is that we now have game film on each one and can help each of them progress as a quarterback,” Recker said. “Being put in game situations is much different than doing it in practice against the scout team.”

“We thought Jake did a good job running the ball, which is what we were hoping for,” Recker added. “Owen did a nice job, for example, timing up the pass to Jacoby (Kelly) on the touchdown.”

Defiance (1-9, 1-8 WBL) has struggled offensively and defensively this season, averaging just over 225 yards per and 11 points per game, while giving up more than 380 yards and 40 points per contest.

Despite those numbers, Recker knows the Cougars will be in for a fight.

“Coach (Kevin) Kline is a very good coach,”Recker said. “We played him when he was the coach at Bryan, so he knows what he’s doing. He will have them ready to compete with us.”

His son (Caden Kline), who is a sophomore, starts at quarterback for them. Being a coach’s kid, he likely has a lot of knowledge of their offense and studies film quite a bit.”

“They have a tailback (JD McNett) who is dangerous if he gets in the open field. He had a 78-yard touchdown run against Ottawa-Glandorf during the first series where he ran away from all of their defenders.”

The Cougars were eliminated from playoff contention with last week’s loss to Celina, but Recker believes a victory in the season finale would be big going into the off-season.

“Coming off an 0-10 year, few people probably thought we’d be in this position,” Recker explained. “We started the year 3-1 in our first four games and have a chance to end the year 2-1 in our last three games. With a good core of guys returning, getting this win will keep them excited and hungry as we go into the off-season.”

Friday’s Van Wert at Defiance game will air live on WERT 1220AM and 104.3FM, and will stream live at www.thevwindependent.com.