Briston Wise of Van Wert stiff-arms Nathan Luna of Shawnee on Friday night at H.A. Eggerss Stadium.
Chris Howell | The Lima News
VAN WERT — Timely stops are something Van Wert has struggled to get this season.
The Cougars (3-5, 2-5 WBL) entered Friday night dead last in the Western Buckeye League in total yards allowed and points given up, but those numbers went by the wayside in a 28-14 win over Shawnee.
Van Wert used timely stops, halting an 11-play drive with a punt, forced one three-and-out and picked up three turnovers on downs to get a win in back-to-back weeks for the first time this season.
“Stops were at a premium tonight,” said Van Wert coach Keith Recker. “When we’re able to get a few, it just gives us so much momentum for Briston and our offense, so if we can get the ball back, it’s demoralizing for them. We’re kind of a bend but don’t break defense as it is but our kids toughened up when they needed to.”
Van Wert allowed a pair of second-quarter touchdowns, a 4-yard run from Caleb Bacome and a 70-yard pass from Bacome to Chase DePalma, and that was it. A scoreless second half for Shawnee (2-6, 2-6 WBL) finished off the Cougars’ best defensive performance since Week 1 in a 48-8 win over Bryan.
“I thought our pursuit angles were better on plays,” Recker said. “We didn’t overrun the ball or force the edge trying to turn it back inside. Really, we just made tackles better and our guys started to understand where they fit in the realm of that defense. “
After taking a 13-0 lead in the first quarter, Van Wert never trailed in the game.
Quarterback Briston Wise hit Xavier Kelly for a 56-yard touchdown 30 seconds into the first quarter, and when the defense stopped a six-minute Shawnee drive with a punt, Wise marched the Cougars 72 yards down the field and ran for a 39-yard touchdown with 2:46 left.
Wise ended the night completing 11 of 15 passes for 143 yards, three touchdowns and one interception with 135 yards and a touchdown on the ground. He went down with an injury on the final play of the second quarter but returned at the start of the second half.
“He’s like the epitome of physical and mental toughness,” Recker said of his quarterback. “He refuses to go down and even the one time he went down, he just wanted back up right away. He’s such a threat with his running and he threw some really nice balls to get some long touchdowns.”
Both of those long touchdowns went to Xavier Kelly, a freshman wide receiver who finished the night with 102 yards on three catches and 102 rushing yards on nine carries.
“He’s a talented kid,” Wise said of Kelly. “All props to him tonight. He played a heck of a game.”
“As we’ve gone through the year, we’ve watched him (Xavier Kelly) figure out the offense,” Recker said. “His explosiveness showed itself on the practice field and he’s really giving us a dynamic athlete at the tailback/wide receiver position. His running between the tackles and ball security has been impressive. He’s playing levels above what his age is.”
For Shawnee, Caleb Bacome started again at quarterback in place of the injured JJ Spyker and went 13 of 26 for 166 yards and a touchdown.
Dalton Hopson carried the ball 10 times for 74 yards and DePalma led the team in receiving with his 70-yard catch. Cole Sunderland added 68 rushing yards and six catches for 57 yards.
After starting the season 2-0, Shawnee is now on a six-game losing streak.
Van Wert, who started the year with a win in its opener, has now won back-to-back games after snapping a five-game losing skid.
“We changed up a few things on offense that have helped us these last few weeks,” Wise said. “My line, they push and push. They give me the opening and the defense is doing a good job getting stops. We’re just working. We want to stay in it.”
Recker said, “I think the credit goes to our players for not getting down on themselves. They seem to really enjoy each other at practice. They have a great attitude coming in and they want to keep getting better. When your team takes that approach, you just kind of hope things fall into place for them and these last two weeks it has.”
Score by quarters
SH 0 14 0 0 – 14
VW 13 0 7 8 – 28
Scoring Summary
VW — Xavier Kelly 56-yard reception from Briston Wise (Griffin McCracken kick no good) — 11:30, 1st
VW — Briston Wise 39-yard run (Griffin McCracken kick) — 2:46, 1st
SH — Caleb Bacome 4-yard run (Harroun Jmiai kick) — 10:39, 2nd
SH — Chase DePalma 70-yard reception from Caleb Bacome (Harroun Jmiai kick) — 0:18, 2nd
VW — Xavier Kelly 29-yard reception from Briston Wise (Griffin McCracken kick) — 5:06, 3rd
VW — Keaten Welch 22-yard reception from Briston Wise (Briston Wise to Micah Cowan 2PT conversion) — 6:06, 4th
Passing
SH — Caleb Bacome 13/26 166 yards, TD
VW — Briston Wise 11/15 143 yards, 3 TDs, INT
Rushing
SH — Dalton Hopson 10 carries, 74 yards
VW — Briston Wise 19 carries, 135 yards, TD
Receiving
SH — Chase DePalma 1 catch, 70 yards, TD
VW — Xavier Kelly 3 catches, 102 yards, 2 TDs
Total yards
SH — 351
VW — 387
Reach Chris Howell at 567-242-0468 or on Twitter/X at @Lima_Howell
