CELINA – Ottawa-Glandorf’s Alex Macke and his teammates drew up a play during a recent practice.
And Tuesday the Titans were able to put that exact play to use.
Macke scored off a free kick and Ottawa-Glandorf posted a 2-0 victory over Celina in a Western Buckeye League boys soccer match at Celina.
O-G is 10-1-1, 5-1 in the WBL. Celina is 6-3-2, 3-2-1 in the WBL.
O-G controlled play in the first half, but the game was scoreless until the final minute of the half.
The Titans had a free kick from 25-yards out, just outside the left corner of the 18-yard box.
Two players crossed over the ball, but it was Carson Fuka who sent it into the heart of the box.
Macke charged from the right side and 12-yards out sent a low-lining shot into the left corner of the net.
That gave O-G a 1-0 lead with 1:02 left in the first half.
“We ran a little pass into the middle and I came running from the back side and had a little touch from my right foot to my left foot,” Macke said. “I placed it into the bottom left corner of the net. I couldn’t have done it without the nice pass (from Fuka).
“We kind of came up with it during practice. Then, we called it, we ran it and hit the ball (to me) perfectly.’’
O-G outshot Celina, 10-1, including 6-0 in the first half.
“We were knocking on the door and we kept telling them, ‘Keep pounding it, something’s going to fall,’ ’’ O-G coach Kyle Metzger said. “Finally, we got that first one off the set piece. I liked the creativity that they came up with that (play off the set piece).
“We came up with it, we ran it well and we got rewarded for it.’’
Celina goalkeeper Logan Smith made five saves. O-G goalkeeper Dylan Birkemeier had one save.
O-G had the corner-kick advantage, 5-0.
Celina pushed up a few midfielders and its stopper in the second half in an attempt to get more offense.
The move worked, as the Bulldogs had a number of offensive runs at the net. But out of those numerous surges, only one resulted in a shot.
“Offensively, we struggled to connect some passes and finish tonight,” Celina coach Ryan Jenkins said. “They got that goal right before the end of the half off the set piece, but we came out in the second half and battled. O-G is a good team and they played well tonight.’’
Credit the O-G defense for making stop after stop in the box. Most of the job was done by defenders Luke Brickner and Carter Lammers, along with sweeper Nate Maag, who directed the defenders in front of him.
“Nate’s back there as the commander, telling them who to mark and making sure we didn’t lose our assignments,” Metzger said. “It was well disciplined team defense back there and everyone talked.’’
O-G controlled the attack with the short, precision passes through the midfield in the first half.
In the second half, with the Titans pushing the offense forward, O-G got loose on a counter attack for a second goal late in the game.
Jeremy Hermiller sent a cross into the box and Fuka hit a one-timer into the net from 12-yards out.
That gave the Titans a 2-0 lead with 9:49 to play.
“We knew it was going to be a battle tonight,” Macke said.
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