Cougars down Knights in preseason finale

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

Van Wert dominated county rival Crestview 45-7 in the final preseason tune up at Eggerss Stadium on Friday.

The Cougars scored early and often, with 33 of those points coming in the first quarter, most on big plays.

After Tanner Barnhart intercepted a pass by Kaden Short, the Cougars scored on a two play drive capped off by the first of Nate Jackson’s three touchdown runs, a 14-yarder.

Crestview’s next possession ended on the first play, when Dru Johnson intercepted Short’s pass and three plays later, Jackson scored on a 17 yard run, followed by a Peyton McAlpine PAT that made it 13-0.

The Knights were forced to punt on their next possession and Jackson took just one play to race 71 yards to the end zone, then on Crestview’s ensuing possession, a pair of runs by Caylib Pruett put the Knights on the 48 yard line, but Sam Cassidy picked off a Short pass and returned it for a touchdown, giving Van Wert a 26-0 lead.

The final score of the quarter came on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Owen Treece to Barnhart, and head coach Keith Recker was pleased with how his team generated big plays.

“A lot of that is our offensive line and blocking downfield, and we didn’t have that a lot during the preseason,” Recker said. “We need that – we need to get some plays of 20, 30, 40 yards, so without seeing the film I think our offensive line played as well as they’ve played all preseason.”

On the flip side, Crestview head coach Jared Owens said the scrimmage was a learning experience.

“We have to approach a scrimmage for what it is – you learn from it – it means nothing for the results of the rest of the season except what you can take from it and learn from it,” Owens said. “We’ll break down the film and learn where they need to get better and that’s what we’ll try to do next week, is improve on our mistakes and things we can control.”

Jackson led the Cougars with three carries for 120 yards and three scores, while Treece completed 7 of 15 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown. Johnson led all receivers with five receptions for 120 yards in just two quarters of play.

“Dru has been doing that all summer and preseason and he’s going to be an explosive receiver and a difficult matchup for teams,” Recker said. “Nate came in and did a great job of filling in for Jake (Hilleary) and he’s starting to figure it out. He’s a very good athlete.”

Short led Crestview with 53 yards rushing, but he went down late in the second quarter with an apparent leg injury while playing defense. He was taken from the stadium on a stretcher, and his condition is unknown.

Pruett had eight carries for 27 yards and Brody Brecht, who also saw snaps at quarterback, had eight carries for 26 yards. Crestview quarterbacks combined to go 1 of 13 for six yards, with four interceptions.

The entire second half was played with junior varsity players who combined to score three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Van Wert’s Aidan Pratt scored on a 15 yard touchdown run, then tossed a 10 yard scoring pass to Jacob Fuerst. Crestview’s Payton Helstad put the Knights on the board with a 70 yard touchdown sprint, followed by Kaden Kreischer’s PAT.

The two teams combined for 21 penalties and both coaches agreed that’s an area that will have to be cleaned up quickly.

“A couple of times they took scoring plays off the board for holding and we can’t do that against the teams we play,” Recker stated. “Hopefully we can learn from that and really teach that better next week.”

“Offsides, false starts, fumbles – we’re not the type of team that’s going to be able to get behind the chains,” Owens said. “We’ve harped on that a lot, but we just have to execute better.”

Van Wert will open the regular season at Bryan on Friday while Crestview will play at Parkway the same night.

Scoring summary

First quarter

10:16 Nate Jackson 14 yard run (pass failed)
9:26 Nate Jackson 17 yard run (Peyton McAlpine kick)
5:37 Nate Jackson 71 yard run (run failed)
4:15 Sam Cassidy 48 yard interception return (Peyton McAlpine kick)
0:00 Owen Treece 13 yards to Tanner Barnhart (Peyton McAlpine kick)

Fourth quarter

7:24 Aidan Pratt 15 yard run (run failed)
2:13 Aidan Pratt 10 yard pass to Jacob Fuerst (run failed)
1:03 Payton Halsted 70 yard run (Kaden Kreischer kick)