Boys soccer: Continental downs Ottawa-Glandorf

CONTINENTAL — Continental’s Rhenn Armey continues to be a scoring machine.

Coming off a five-goal, six assists performance in the sectional opener against Lima Central Catholic on Wednesday, the Pirate senior standout recorded three goals and an assist to help Continental defeat Ottawa-Glandorf 5-0 in the Division III sectional final Friday.

With the win, Continental improves to 13-4-2 and advances to the district semifinals where the Pirates will face off against Putnam County League rival Ottoville at Kalida at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The two teams battled to a 1-1 tie in the regular season. Ottawa-Glandorf ends its year with an 8-8-1 mark.

Armey’s got his scoring day going early when he helped create a turnover and then created a score for the first goal with 37:53 showing on the game clock.

Armey’s second score was as impressive as his first as the PCL player of the year weaved his way around several Titan defenders, made a spin move to make space and deposited a rocket in the back of the net with 19:35 left in the first half.

Continental added a third goal a little more than eight minutes later when Braxton Stegbauer was the man in the right place at the right time after kicking in a shot that came off the arms of O-G keeper Dave Westrick to give the Pirates a 3-0 advantage.

Continental head coach Brian Stegbauer said the team has been working on getting off to a quick start throughout the regular season.

“We have been working all year on starting off fast and we have struggled with it from time to time but this game we specially came out right away,” Stegbauer said. “Rhenn took it over right away. He didn’t want this to be his last game on his home field. I think he put it his own pocket.”

Stegbauer adds that he knows Armey is going to attract a lot of attention

“People have known him for four years now,” Stegbauer said. “The first year they thought is he going to be that good as a freshman and after that they knew. Everybody knows. He is at 114 goals and 58 or 59 assists. He is knocking on the door of being on the first player ever being on the scoring title and the assist record for the state.

“He is a phenomenal player. People say he can’t be that but he is everything and more. He’s a coach on the field. He is better than me at times. “

Titan head coach Kyle Metzger said Armey did a good job of moving around but added that O-G did not play its game.

“Our big thing is we shot ourselves in the foot,” Metzger said. “We had bad touches, turnovers and not communicating. The idea was there but the execution wasn’t.”

Down 3-0, the Titans changed up its formation and upped its offensive attack in hopes of curtailing Continental’s momentum. The move appeared to work when, at the two minute mark, Titan Jackson Heringhaus broke free from the Pirate defense and found himself one-on-one at point blank range with Pirate keeper Konnor Knipp-Williams.

Heringhaus let loose with a hard smash that Williams turned back but the ball returned right back to the Titan who fired a second shot and once again Williams popped up to thwart the second attempt and keep O-G off the scoreboard.

“Knippy came up big but he has all year,” Stegbauer said. “His saves have come huge when they have come up.”

Metzger said, “That would have been a game changer for us. But it was not our day.”

At the onset of the second half, the Titans resumed their offensive surge as they worked for more scoring opportunities and while they attempted some shots, nothing made it past the Pirate defense.

It was Continental that came away with the next score when, on a counterattack, came down scored after Armey threaded a pass to teammate Collin Davis, who was cutting in front of the net and he slid it in for the score a little more than 10 minutes into the second half.

Armey put the exclamation point on his day and the win with a breakaway score last in the game to secure the hat trick.

Reach Jose Nogueras at 567-242-0468.