Ottoville’s Preston Mansfield (left) competes with Liberty-Benton’s Trevor Ferris during Wednesday night’s Division III regional semifinal in Wapakoneta.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
WAPAKONETA — The Ottoville Big Green have an opportunity to make their third time a charm.
For a third consecutive season, the Big Green find themselves one game away from making the state tournament after a second-half explosion Wednesday night separated Ottoville from Liberty-Benton.
After a scoreless first half, Ottoville began to put pressure on Liberty-Benton goalkeeper Ben Jenkins. Ottoville pulled away to seal the win 4-0.
“Total team effort is what it came down to and we knew that’s what it was going to take,” Ottoville head coach Dustin Markward said. “Liberty Benton is a solid team overall. They move the ball around really well, and we had to be on our toes defensively. I thought on defense we played our best game of the year.”
Ottoville did not register a shot in the first half but capitalized on its first attempt. With 26:59 to play, Nick Quartana found net to give the Big Green momentum.
With the momentum on their side the Big Green never looked back.
Quinton Schnipke and Preston Mansfield each added goals to their season totals in less than 60 seconds of each other.
Schnipke collected his 11th goal of the season with 18:43 remaining. Mansfield continued to add to his school record of goals scored in a career with 18:02 to play. Mansfield has scored 32 goals this year.
“In the second half we found some chances and capitalized,” Markward said. “Our team thrived off the goal and at this point of the year you want to play at your best and I felt that we were at our best tonight.”
With a three-goal advantage late the Big Green defense was able to play more comfortable to prevent the Eagles from the comeback effort.
Ottoville added icing to the cake with less than five minutes remaining when Nick Brandeberry found net.
The Big Green will head to Clyde on Saturday for a noon matchup with Kidron Central Christian in hopes of claiming their first regional championship in school history.
Scoring
O – Nick Quartana
O – Quinton Schnipke
O – Preston Mansfield
O – Nick Brandeberry
Nate Stidham wrote this story for LimaScores.com. Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.
