Richard Parrish | The Lima News
For the first time in recent memory, the Bath-Shawnee matchup has real implications and both teams enter Friday night without a losing record.
After dropping a close opener to New Bremen, Bath evened its record to 1-1 with a last-second victory over Van Wert in Week 2 thanks to a last-second touchdown from running back Mikey Hale.
Shawnee (2-0), through the season’s first two weeks, has been the surprise of the area with wins against Lima Central Catholic and Elida after going 0-10 in 2023.
First-year Shawnee coach Shane Wireman said for his team to win on Friday night, it’ll have to play clean, balanced football against a much-improved Bath team.
“It’s going to come down to us cleaning up the pre-snap penalties and doing a better job of maintaining balance on offense,” Wireman said. “We have several players who are capable of making plays for us offensively, and we want to keep it that way so the defense can’t just settle in on any one guy to stop us. We want to stay ahead of the chains and keep the ball out of harm’s way, while still maintaining our aggressiveness.”
Hale is one of those players that Shawnee has a circle around on its scouting report. In two games, Hale has collected 244 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns. He scored the game-winning touchdown against Van Wert with 1:11 left in the game.
“He makes a ton of plays from the backfield as a running back and as a wide receiver when they decide to flex him out,” Wireman said of Hale. “They also have a ton of tall and lengthy wide receivers who have plenty of speed, which makes them very explosive on offense.”
Bath quarterback Zach Welsch has completed 36 of 60 passes this season for 587 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. He’s found wide receiver Ethan Cole for two of those touchdowns. Jaxon Foster has team-highs in both receptions (12) and yards (153) for the Wildcats.
“Defensively we have to have eye discipline, communicate and play with great effort,” Wireman said. “Both of their first two games have been very close finishes, and we are certain we will need to be prepared to play for four quarters.”
Bath coach Frank Russell expects to see the same thing from Shawnee, and for the Indians to come in with some extra momentum from their hot start.
“Shawnee is big, fast and physical team,” he said. “They run the ball really well and have a lot of speed in their skill positions. It will be a great challenge for us.”
Shawnee’s JJ Spyker, a dual-threat quarterback, also provides plenty of challenges for Russell’s Wildcats.
Spyker led the offense to 366 total yards against Elida last week and didn’t commit the same type of costly turnovers that he did against LCC in Week 1.
Shawnee’s junior signal-caller found five different wide receivers last Friday night, completing 13 of 26 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns, adding 115 rushing yards and a touchdown on 15 carries.
Spyker frequently targets Michael Garlock and Reese Davidson. The two playmakers combined for 10 catches, 136 yards and two touchdowns against Elida.
The prospect of facing another up-and-coming team, similar to his own, is something that Russell said he’s excited about.
“We’re looking forward to playing a much improved Shawnee team,” he said. “Coach Wireman has done a great job with that group.”
