Ottoville’s Kellen Schlagbaum dribbles ahead of Ottawa Hills’ Vaughn Mackey during Saturday’s Division III regional final in Tiffin. See more high school soccer photos at LimaScores.com.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
TIFFIN — Ottawa Hills continues to haunt Ottoville.
For the second straight season, Ottawa Hills ended Ottoville’s season with a 2-1 against the Big Green in the Division III regional finals Saturday. Last year, the Green Bears beat Ottoville 1-0 in the regional finals last year.
Ottoville ends its year with a 19-1-2 record and Ottawa Hills advances to the state semifinals Wednesday.
Ottoville is 0-4 against Ottawa Hills in regional finals.
“I am super proud of this team,” Ottoville head coach Dustin Markward said. “It is not easy when you get to this point. I couldn’t have asked for them to do anything better. It’s tough because you are going against soccer players who play year round versus us who have athletes that play multiple sports and we were right there.
“I think that speaks volumes a lot about our program and how we played with this team. Again kudos to our team for all the things that they were able to do.”
The wind, blowing as much as 25 mph, was a factor for both teams and Ottoville had the wind advantage in the first half but neither team broke through for a score.
In fact, it was Ottoville, going against the wind, in the second half that recorded the first goal of the game when Trey Landwehr directed a cross from Kellen Schlagbaum in front of the net to notch the goal and the 1-0 advantage with 33:57 left in the game.
“The big story was how much we were able to push the issue and getting chances against the wind,” Ottoville head coach Dustin Markward said. “We see how bad Ottawa Hills struggled the first half against the wind and going into halftime it was going to be a challenge. The fact that we scored a goal and had many more chances into that wind was phenomenal.
“We couldn’t ask more from our players anything better than what they did in this game. That wind is nasty and it showed with two of their goals. They are a good team none the less. I am proud of our team and how we were able to get the chances that we were able to in the second half against the wind.”
Markward added that Ottoville had chances to score with the wind in the first half but pointed out that they had more chances when they played against the wind.
Enter Ottawa Hills Elijah Shatterly.
The senior midfielder put in two goals in about four minutes to reverse the fortunes and the momentum of the contest.
Shatterly’s first score came with 21:36 left in the game when he redirected a shot into the back of the net.
Four minutes later Shatterly was celebrating again and this time the senior Green Bear finished off a run where Ottawa-Hills meticulously worked the ball downfield and Shatterly finished it off. With 16:59 left in the game, Ottawa Hills led 2-1.
Ottoville looked to gain the equalizer against the wind but the Big Green never broke through and the game and the season came to an end.
Ottawa Hills head coach Brian Hanudel said, “We just kept playing our game. We were really disappointed in giving up that one goal …. You are happy you don’t give up a goal in the first half but you give up one in the second half going with the wind at your back.”
In the season, Ottoville had given up a total of six goals all season and had surrendered two goals in a game just once this season. These were the first goals scored on Ottoville since Oct. 7 when it tied Kalida 2-2.
Reach Jose Nogueras at 567-242-0468.
