Ottawa-Glandorf topples Pleasant

FINDLAY - What a difference a year makes.

One year after getting beat by Marion Pleasant 48-21 in the regional semifinals, Ottawa-Glandorf's football team beat the Spartans 28-21 in a Division IV regional semifinal overtime thriller.

Ottawa-Glandorf (8-4) will play Genoa Area on Friday at a site to be determined. Genoa Area beat Fostoria 28-14.

Pleasant bows out at 10-2.

The Titans jumped out in front in the first quarter when Taylor Kuhlman went in from 14 yards at the 7:20 mark to give O-G a 7-0 lead. That score was only the second time that Pleasant had given up a touchdown in the first half all year.

In what became an indicator of how the game would go, Kuhlman scored again from 2 yards out just before halftime to give the Titans a 14-0 lead going into the break. But Pleasant came out in the third quarter and switched to a shotgun formation and standout quarterback Cody Harris caught fire.

Harris threw a 54-yard scoring strike to Kyle Beck with 3:14 left in the third quarter to pull the Spartans within 14-7.

O-G answered immediately and Cory Greve went in from 3 yards out with 13 seconds remaining in the third quarter to give the Titans a 21-7 lead.

Pleasant then scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime. The first score came on a 3-yard run by Jake Lawrence; the second came from Cory Snyder on a 2-yard run with less than 3:00 to play.

In the extra period, O-G got the ball first and went 20 yards in six plays. The final yard coming on a quarterback sneak by Kuhlman to cap his big night for the Titans.

Pleasant then got the ball and the Titans defense stiffened and forced Harris into two incomplete passes and O-G advanced to the regional finals for the first time in the program's history.

 "We were able to control the line of scrimmage and our defense played super all night," O-G coach Ken Schriner said. "I'm so proud of these kids, the did something tonight no O-G team has ever done before, which is advance to the regional finals. We forced them to do things they didn't want to do and we rode Taylor Kuhlman all night."

Kuhlman rushed 24 times for 150 yards, and Jacob Lugo added 93 yards rushing. Harris completed 19-of-31 for 214 yards and led the Spartans in rushing with 42 yards.

"I dropped back to pass and when their linebackers went back into coverage I was able to take off," Taylor Kuhlman said. "Our offensive line has done a fantastic job all year and good things will happen with a good offensive line."

Pleasant came into the game as a running team and the standout performance of the Titans' defense forced the Spartans to take to the air. Keys to the defensive effort were linebackers Brian Laubenthal, Brian Schmiedebusch and Ben Kaufman.