FINDLAY — Take a quick, athletic Ottawa-Glandorf offense and put it on the turf.

GENOA TOWNSHIP — The goal of any defensive coordinator is to make an opposing offense one-dimensional, taking away either the pass or the run. And if a coordinator can take away what a team is largely known for, all the better.

OTTAWA — Elida quarterback Reggie McAdams gets all of the headlines and highlights, and rightfully so, but ask coach Jason Carpenter how to stop the Bulldogs and a different name pops up.

WAPAKONETA — From the moment the referee placed the ball on the turf for the first possession of Friday night’s game, Wapakoneta was out to prove its opponent Ottawa-Glandorf wasn’t the only smash-mouth, physical team on the field.

The Lima News sent questionnaires to representatives for every issue on the ballot in Allen, Auglaize, Hardin, Putnam and Van Wert counties for this election section. Representatives had the opportunity to discuss the major issues with their issue. Only basic information from the board of elections identifies organizations that did not return a questionnaire yet. We continue to receive more questionnaires every day, so check back here soon to see the latest submitted answers.

OTTAWA — It played football deeper into the playoffs than nearly everyone in the area last year, but Ottawa-Glandorf is done celebrating the accomplishment and getting pats on the back.

FINDLAY – Luke Bellman figured it was just his night.At this point, the name doesn’t matter. Ottawa-Glandorf is just relieved someone stepped up and got it rolling.Bellman kick started the Titans’ 59-50 win over Bluffton in a Division III boys basketball sectional  final on Friday night by scoring six points over two minutes in the first quarter after Bluffton had scored the first our points of the game.“They basically left Luke Bellman open,” O-G coach Josh Leslie said of Bluffton’s triangle-and-two defense. “He made some big shots that we needed. That kind of got us going a little bit and carried over.”Where Bellman left off, Taylor Kuhlman picked up with seven points, including a 3-pointer from the left corner.And when Kuhlman cooled off, Justin Schomaeker and Jake Meyer heated up. Schomaeker scored five points in the opening quarter and Meyer had seven in the second quarter.After Bluffton held its last lead at 8-6 midway through the first quarter, O-G ticked off a 17-2 run. “The guys found me open and they got me the ball,” Bellman said. “I happened to hit a couple of shots.”Bluffton was the last team Leslie wanted to see in the sectional. The Pirates offered his squad a tough look, particularly with their post players, led by 6-foot-3 senior center Kory Place. He scored only four points in the first half as O-G built a 28-18 lead.“They have big guys and they’re scrappy, they hang around,” Leslie said. “I’m not going to lie. We were kind of worried.”Place scored 16 points and grabbed six rebounds after halftime, finishing with a game-high 20 points, helping keep the Titans uncomfortable. Patric Garlock had eight of his 12 points after halftime for the Pirates.“Our main focus is to get the ball inside. We talked about that at half. I thought we settled for some perimeter jump shots a little bit too much,” Bluffton coach Todd Boblitt said. “We did a better job in the second half of finding Kory.”The loss of point guard Tyler Neal to foul trouble in the first half also hampered the Pirates’ plans; he went down with foul No. 3 with 4 minutes, 41 seconds left before halftime.O-G lost its starting point guard as well, but Eric Brickner stepped up, controlling the pace and playing strong defense on the Bluffton backcourt.“Defense has always been my thing, so it was an easy assignment,” Brickner said.Neither team could purchase a free throw in the first half, combining to make 7 of 20. The second half found slightly better shooting, particularly from Brickner, who hit 6 of 8 free throws in the final 4 minutes.“He made the ones that really mattered. When it could have gone either way, he made everyone of them,” Leslie said.Three players scored in double figures for the Titans, paced by 14 points from Kuhlman. Schomaeker added 13 points and Meyer had 12.The Pirates end their season with a second consecutive winning record. Before last year, they last had a winning mark in 1999.“They started something. They built off of last year,” Boblitt said. “I’m very proud of them.”O-G faces Parkway in a district semifinal Wednesday at Elida.

FINDLAY – Luke Bellman figured it was just his night.At this point, the name doesn’t matter. Ottawa-Glandorf is just relieved someone stepped up and got it rolling.Bellman kick started the Titans’ 59-50 win over Bluffton in a Division III boys basketball sectional  final on Friday night by scoring six points over two minutes in the first quarter after Bluffton had scored the first our points of the game.“They basically left Luke Bellman open,” O-G coach Josh Leslie said of Bluffton’s triangle-and-two defense. “He made some big shots that we needed. That kind of got us going a little bit and carried over.”Where Bellman left off, Taylor Kuhlman picked up with seven points, including a 3-pointer from the left corner.And when Kuhlman cooled off, Justin Schomaeker and Jake Meyer heated up. Schomaeker scored five points in the opening quarter and Meyer had seven in the second quarter.After Bluffton held its last lead at 8-6 midway through the first quarter, O-G ticked off a 17-2 run. “The guys found me open and they got me the ball,” Bellman said. “I happened to hit a couple of shots.”Bluffton was the last team Leslie wanted to see in the sectional. The Pirates offered his squad a tough look, particularly with their post players, led by 6-foot-3 senior center Kory Place. He scored only four points in the first half as O-G built a 28-18 lead.“They have big guys and they’re scrappy, they hang around,” Leslie said. “I’m not going to lie. We were kind of worried.”Place scored 16 points and grabbed six rebounds after halftime, finishing with a game-high 20 points, helping keep the Titans uncomfortable. Patric Garlock had eight of his 12 points after halftime for the Pirates.“Our main focus is to get the ball inside. We talked about that at half. I thought we settled for some perimeter jump shots a little bit too much,” Bluffton coach Todd Boblitt said. “We did a better job in the second half of finding Kory.”The loss of point guard Tyler Neal to foul trouble in the first half also hampered the Pirates’ plans; he went down with foul No. 3 with 4 minutes, 41 seconds left before halftime.O-G lost its starting point guard as well, but Eric Brickner stepped up, controlling the pace and playing strong defense on the Bluffton backcourt.“Defense has always been my thing, so it was an easy assignment,” Brickner said.Neither team could purchase a free throw in the first half, combining to make 7 of 20. The second half found slightly better shooting, particularly from Brickner, who hit 6 of 8 free throws in the final 4 minutes.“He made the ones that really mattered. When it could have gone either way, he made everyone of them,” Leslie said.Three players scored in double figures for the Titans, paced by 14 points from Kuhlman. Schomaeker added 13 points and Meyer had 12.The Pirates end their season with a second consecutive winning record. Before last year, they last had a winning mark in 1999.“They started something. They built off of last year,” Boblitt said. “I’m very proud of them.”O-G faces Parkway in a district semifinal Wednesday at Elida.

OTTAWA – Ottawa-Glandorf’s Brittany Kiracofe took the inbounds pass and was driving until someone stopped her.No one did.Kiracofe drove the right side of the lane and knocked in a 7-footer with 1.3 seconds left to lift Ottawa-Glandorf to a 79-77 girls basketball victory over the No.1-ranked Bath on Thursday at Robert J. Hermiller Gymnasium.As the ball hit the net, the O-G fans poured onto the floor and set off a celebration.With the game tied at 77 with 8.1 seconds left, the Titans’ Jenna Ellerbrock inbounded the ball to Kiracofe on the side.“Coach (Lori Smith) said do your best to drive to the basket,” Kiracofe said. “One of the post players set a pick for me and she said drive, and hopefully it went in and it did tonight.”Smith said, “We wanted it in Brittany’s hands. Brittany has had two games where she had chances to win it at the end and just fell short and when you have someone like that, give it to them again. It’s one of the plays where it’s do or die.”Bath, which came into the game ranked No. 1 in the state in Division II, is 16-1, 6-1 in the Western Buckeye League. The Titans are 12-4, 6-1 in the WBL.Kiracofe led the Titans with 16 points, while Chelsea Maas had 14 points and 11 rebounds. Danielle Hershberger contributed 12 points and four rebounds off the bench.Stefanie Mauk led Bath with 25 points and two 3-pointers. Rachel Mauk scored 24 with five 3-pointers. Stephanie Sanders scored 12.The difference came on the inside, where O-G outrebounded Bath, 41-23 overall, and 15-10 on the offensive end. The 6-foot-1 Maas, 6-2 Madalyn Shalter (four points, six rebounds) and 5-10 Hershberger continually pounded the ball inside.“We allowed the ball to get to the basket way too many times,” Bath coach Greg Mauk said. “I don’t know how to explain that. It’s not something we’ve allowed all year long and it did happen tonight.“We didn’t rebound, we allowed the ball to the rim and then we didn’t check out and we allowed them to continue to crash the boards and that hurt us the entire game.”Kiracofe scored 10 in the first quarter to help the Titans take a 24-17 lead at the end of the first quarter. Rachel Mauk countered with 17 in the first half, as she dropped in four straight 3-pointers. That helped Bath close the gap to 40-38 at the half.Hershberger began taking control down on the blocks in the third quarter. She scored eight in the quarter to help the Titans take a 58-48 lead.“They have more experience at the guard spot, especially from a shooting standpoint, but I thought we had the advantage inside,” Smith said. “I think, considering the pressure situation, this was by far her (Hershberger’s) best effort.”O-G led 75-65 with two minutes and 35 seconds left when Bath’s press and fast-break 3-pointers took control. Bath went on an 12-2 run to tie the game at 77 with 40 seconds left. During that run, Rachel Mauk and Stefanie Mauk both hit a 3-pointer, with Rachel hitting the game-tying basket. Stefanie scored seven during that burst, while Rachel had five.“At every timeout, I told the girls, “They are going to shoot a three,” Smith said.Bath’s press forced 24 O-G turnovers. Bath had 12 turnovers. O-G shot 59 percent from the field, while Bath hit 40 percent.Celina entered the night still unbeaten in the WBL and now O-G and Bath have one loss.“Beating any team is great, but getting us back in the WBL race is amazing,” Kiracofe said.

OTTAWA – Ottawa-Glandorf’s Brittany Kiracofe took the inbounds pass and was driving until someone stopped her.No one did.Kiracofe drove the right side of the lane and knocked in a 7-footer with 1.3 seconds left to lift Ottawa-Glandorf to a 79-77 girls basketball victory over the No.1-ranked Bath on Thursday at Robert J. Hermiller Gymnasium.As the ball hit the net, the O-G fans poured onto the floor and set off a celebration.With the game tied at 77 with 8.1 seconds left, the Titans’ Jenna Ellerbrock inbounded the ball to Kiracofe on the side.“Coach (Lori Smith) said do your best to drive to the basket,” Kiracofe said. “One of the post players set a pick for me and she said drive, and hopefully it went in and it did tonight.”Smith said, “We wanted it in Brittany’s hands. Brittany has had two games where she had chances to win it at the end and just fell short and when you have someone like that, give it to them again. It’s one of the plays where it’s do or die.”Bath, which came into the game ranked No. 1 in the state in Division II, is 16-1, 6-1 in the Western Buckeye League. The Titans are 12-4, 6-1 in the WBL.Kiracofe led the Titans with 16 points, while Chelsea Maas had 14 points and 11 rebounds. Danielle Hershberger contributed 12 points and four rebounds off the bench.Stefanie Mauk led Bath with 25 points and two 3-pointers. Rachel Mauk scored 24 with five 3-pointers. Stephanie Sanders scored 12.The difference came on the inside, where O-G outrebounded Bath, 41-23 overall, and 15-10 on the offensive end. The 6-foot-1 Maas, 6-2 Madalyn Shalter (four points, six rebounds) and 5-10 Hershberger continually pounded the ball inside.“We allowed the ball to get to the basket way too many times,” Bath coach Greg Mauk said. “I don’t know how to explain that. It’s not something we’ve allowed all year long and it did happen tonight.“We didn’t rebound, we allowed the ball to the rim and then we didn’t check out and we allowed them to continue to crash the boards and that hurt us the entire game.”Kiracofe scored 10 in the first quarter to help the Titans take a 24-17 lead at the end of the first quarter. Rachel Mauk countered with 17 in the first half, as she dropped in four straight 3-pointers. That helped Bath close the gap to 40-38 at the half.Hershberger began taking control down on the blocks in the third quarter. She scored eight in the quarter to help the Titans take a 58-48 lead.“They have more experience at the guard spot, especially from a shooting standpoint, but I thought we had the advantage inside,” Smith said. “I think, considering the pressure situation, this was by far her (Hershberger’s) best effort.”O-G led 75-65 with two minutes and 35 seconds left when Bath’s press and fast-break 3-pointers took control. Bath went on an 12-2 run to tie the game at 77 with 40 seconds left. During that run, Rachel Mauk and Stefanie Mauk both hit a 3-pointer, with Rachel hitting the game-tying basket. Stefanie scored seven during that burst, while Rachel had five.“At every timeout, I told the girls, “They are going to shoot a three,” Smith said.Bath’s press forced 24 O-G turnovers. Bath had 12 turnovers. O-G shot 59 percent from the field, while Bath hit 40 percent.Celina entered the night still unbeaten in the WBL and now O-G and Bath have one loss.“Beating any team is great, but getting us back in the WBL race is amazing,” Kiracofe said.