ELIDA — Celina celebrated a Division II district championship after edging Western Buckeye League rival Shawnee, 1-0, Thursday night, and the Bulldogs can thank their defense for turning back a determined Indians team.
The Bulldogs (18-1) advance to play Vermilion, a 3-2 winner against Lexington, in a 7 p.m. Wednesday regional semifinal at Findlay High School. Shawnee ends its season with a 11-6-2 record.
“It was just a battle,” said Celina head coach Ryan Jenkins. “Both teams played extremely hard tonight. We were fortunate to keep a zero on the board tonight. They had their chances and we had our chances and it was just a good game.”
For the game Shawnee and Celina both finished with five shots on goal.
Credit the defensive backfield for tightly marking their players and keeping any major scoring threats away from goalie Aden Gariety. When the Celina keeper was tested he proved to be up to the challenge and finished with five saves for the game.
“The defense played well tonight for us,” Jenkins added. “They (Shawnee) put some pressure on us but the defense stepped up especially down the stretch and in the second half.”
Shawnee head coach Ryan Quatman said he wanted to put early pressure on the Bulldogs and utilize his team’s quickness to score, but the Bulldogs, continually thwarted the Indians attempts at scoring.
“It seems like they were really holding us down once we got inside the box,” Quatman said. “We had a couple of chances close that we couldn’t put away.”
While Shawnee tried to force the issue offensively in the first half, Celina was more meticulous in its approach and it paid off when Bulldog Connor Mills worked his way into the box and slid a pass to teammate Jarren Casto who pushed the ball past the goalie with 26:50 remaining in the first half.
“We were fortunate to get the one goal that won it for us,” Jenkins said.
At the beginning of the second stanza, it was Celina which took control of the tempo of the game and it had the Indians scrambling back to play defense.
Like their counterparts, the Indian defenders, along with goalie Max Sweigart, turned back the Bulldogs who made several scoring runs at Shawnee in the second half. Sweigart was also peppered with some shots and was credited with five saves for the contest.
Shawnee, which did not have as many scoring opportunities as it did in the first half, almost tied the game nearly 10 minutes into the second half when Jackson Schaaf, after beating his man and the goalie, shot one at an open goal. But a head’s up play by Mills, who rushed over to kick the ball before it crossed the goal line, prevented the score and preserved the shutout.
“They put three guys on our one striker,” Quatman said. “He is a great player, Jackson Schaaf, but it is hard to get past three. We had our chances but they’ve got experience and they play really hard and they are going to advance in the tournament and we wish them the best of luck.”
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