Bath’s Mikey Hale runs past Shawnee defenders during Friday’s game at Shawnee High School.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
Make some big plays then run behind the big guys.
That was part of Bath’s game-winning formula when it beat Shawnee 49-23 on Friday night.
The Wildcats had passing plays of 54, 43, 41, 23, 21 and 18 yards which moved them into scoring position and touchdown runs of 1 yard, 1 yard, 3 yards, 4 yards, 6 yards and 8 yards.
“The biggest thing is they hit big plays and when they got those big plays they went to more of a heavy run package,” Shawnee coach Shane Wireman said after the Indians (2-1, 1-1 Western Buckeye League) lost for the first time in three games this season.
“They have some really nice offensive linemen and they matched up well against us in the trenches. Our biggest thing was we wanted to keep them out of that 20-yard zone because we knew when they got down there they were going to sub in that big package and we don’t match up well against that.
“They took it to us,” he said.
Bath (2-1, 2-0 WBL) got three rushing touchdowns from quarterback Zach Welsch, two from running back Mikey Hale and one from running back James Davenport.
Welsch rushed for 113 yards on 17 carries, completed 12 of 19 passes for 190 yards, threw a touchdown pass to Jaxon Foster, intercepted a pass and had a half dozen tackles. Hale gained 68 yards on 15 carries.
Shawnee quarterback JJ Spyker ran for 107 yards on 13 carries and scored touchdowns on runs of 6 yards, 13 yards and 31 yards. He was 17 of 28 for 185 yards passing. Michael Garlock had 9 catches for 93 yards.
Shawnee led 10-0 early in the second quarter before Bath scored touchdowns on seven of its next eight possessions.
“They gave us a little different look on defense than we were expecting. It took us a series to adjust but we came out and scored 21 points in the second quarter,” Bath coach Frank Russell said.
Harroun Jmial’s 32-yard field goal midway through the first quarter gave Shawnee a 3-0 lead and a 6-yard touchdown run by Spyker in the first minute of the second quarter made it 10-0.
Bath got on the scoreboard for the first time when Welsch scored on a 1-yard quarterback keeper at the end of an 11-play, 79-yard drive which cut Shawnee’s lead to 10-7.
Welsch scored on another 1-yard run to give Bath its first lead of the game at 14-10 but the biggest play of that possession might have come when he had to go to the sideline for one play after getting his helmet knocked off.
On that play, sophomore quarterback Daniel Cole tossed a 43-yard pass to Josiah Clark.
After Welsch intercepted a pass at Bath’s 27-yard line, he combined with Ethan Cole on pass plays of 54 yards and 18 yards before Hale made it 21-10 with a 1-yard touchdown run.
Shawnee received the second-half kickoff and put together a five-play scoring drive that ended with a 13-yard touchdown run by Spyker to cut the lead to 21-17.
Bath responded with a 13-play drive that included Welsch running for 24 yards on fourth down and 14 yards to go at Shawnee’s 28-yard line, then scoring on a 4-yard run to make it 28-17.
After recovering a Shawnee fumble, Bath went up 35-17 on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Welsch to Foster with 3 ½ minutes left in the third quarter.
Spyker’s 31-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter cut the lead to 35-23 but Hale’s 6-yard touchdown run and James Davenport’s 8-yard touchdown run made it 49-23.
“We talk about playing each play and giving max effort. That’s just our standard and we’re not going to accept anything less. We’re getting better. We’re nowhere close to where we need to be at,” Russell said.
“I felt like we played a lot better on defense. JJ is a good player. He puts a lot of pressure on defenses. They’re a strong physical team. That’s what we were concerned about coming into this game and if we were going to match it. We worked hard in the weight room but were we going to match their physicality to go play-by-play with them,” he said.
Shawnee had two senior starters, wide receiver/defensive back Michael Garlock and running back/defensive lineman Akyus Richardson, helped off the field while putting weight on only one leg late in the second half.
