Shawnee’s Sam Tenwalde (8) attempts to make a steal against St. Marys’ AJ Dieringer (4) during Thursday night’s Division II district final at Elida. See more high school soccer photos at LimaScores.com.
Don Speck | The Lima News
ELIDA — This was not uncharted territory for Shawnee.
Coming into Thursday’s Division II boys soccer district final against Western Buckeye League-foe St. Marys, Shawnee had won the district championship the previous three seasons.
Now, make it four in a row.
St. Marys recorded one shot on goal Thursday night, which resulted in a first-half score.
However, No. 1 seed Shawnee shut down No. 3 seed St. Marys after its first-half score, and pounded nine shots on goal, en route to a 5-1 victory over the Roughriders at the Elida Middle School Soccer Complex.
With the win, Shawnee (17-1-1) will now face a very familiar tournament opponent, Lexington, in next Wednesday’s regional semifinal at Spartan Stadium.
St. Marys ends its season 16-4-1.
During the regular season, Shawnee won the Western Buckeye League title for the fourth consecutive time, while St. Marys finished third.
St. Marys got on the scoreboard first Thursday night, on a shot just in front of the net by Bradey Triplett at the 27:45 mark of the first half.
However, that shot would be the last one for the Roughriders.
Shawnee head coach Ryan Quatman praised the effort of not only St. Marys, but the other teams in this district tournament.
“We’ve said for years that we could take two or three teams out of this district and have good representatives at the regional level,” Quatman said. “The WBL is a strong league. … St. Marys showed it. Kenton showed it when they played the other night in the district semifinals (loss) against St. Marys. I think our league is a strong league. It is incredibly difficult to win four (district titles) in a row. My guys play hard, and they had these goals at the beginning of the season. … They’re checking some boxes.”
Shawnee knotted the score at 1 each at the 11:58 mark of the first half, on a long shot from the left side of the box by sophomore Caleb Miller.
In the first 40 minutes, Shawnee recorded four shots on goal.
In the second half, Shawnee swarmed St. Marys at the defensive end.
At the offensive end, Shawnee pushed the pace and managed to get five clean shots at the goal, in which four of those attempts got past St. Marys goalkeeper Cayden Ballweg. The junior goalkeeper recorded four saves on the night.
In the second half, Shawnee senior Austin Miller recorded two goals, both coming off headers near the net. Junior Alex McGuire and sophomore Luca Fusillo each added a goal for the Indians.
Senior Sam Tenwalde assisted on two of Shawnee’s goals.
For the game, Shawnee had nine corner kicks. St. Marys had just one corner kick on the night, which came midway through the second half.
St. Marys put multiple defenders on Austin Miller Thursday night. This season, Miller was the Western Buckeye League Player of the Year.
“They put a mark on Austin (Miller); and it was pretty effective. … But the other boys showed up,” Quatman said. “Austin said at halftime, ‘I’m kind of like a decoy’. He (Miller) really played a team game, because he had two or three guys on him. … They had a good game plan. (St. Marys head) coach Josh Hertenstein had a good game plan, coming in; and I thought they executed it really well.”
Quatman said his team is looking forward to next Wednesday’s challenge when it meets Lexington in a regional semifinal.
“Lexington is an old friend of ours. We’ve actually gotten to know each other pretty well – the coaching staff and some of the players, too,” Quatman said. “I’m excited. In the beginning, we played like in the second game of the season, or something like that. We would always say, ‘We’ll see you in the tournament’. It’s really fun to play good teams at that level. So, we’re happy that Lexington won. … We’ll see them on Wednesday.”
Mark Altstaetter wrote this story for LimaScores.com. Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.
