GLANDORF – Ottawa Glandorf and Kalida finished their season opener in a familiar place on Friday night with a 2-2 draw.
Over the course of their 21 meetings the Wildcats and Titans have played now to 10 ties. This season’s meeting is the second in a row and the third in the last four outings between the two Putnam County programs.
Embroiled in a defensive slugfest the two squads found the halftime scoreboard deadlocked at 0-0 but not without moments of offense that nearly changed the evening.
Kalida keeper Parker Vorst kept the slate clean for the visitors with just under 13 minutes remaining before the break as he was able to push a high Titan blast off the pipes with a highlight level stop.
Not to be outdone however, OG netminder James Niese unleashed his own super save with just outside of two minutes to spare on a line drive by a Kalida shooter off a redirected ball.
The Wildcats took the first lead of the night with 26:13 left in the second half on a marker by Landon Verhoff that pulled Niese just out of position enough to allow the junior midfielder to scorch the back of the net.
Freshman Owen Grime notched his first career goal with 15:00 remaining to run the Kalida lead to 2-0 but the Titans struck back just :52 later on a Jayden Kuhlman runner to cut the home deficit to 2-1.
Ottawa Glandorf’s Calix Pothast netted what ultimately turned out to be the game tying goal for the blue and gold with 3:16 showing on the stadium scoreboard. Pothast, similarly to a goal by Kalida earlier in the game wrapped a redirected shot past Vorst and the Wildcat defense.
Each squad showed the toughness that both head coaches explained they will need to produce this season to have a shot in the Putnam County and Western Buckeye League’s respectively through the course of the evening.
Next up for Kalida (0-0-1) is a Tuesday night date with visiting Wapak. OG (0-0-1) hits the road for their next two outings with trips to Continental on Thursday, and Ottoville on Saturday.
Scoring:
26:13 – Landon Verhoff (KAL)
15:00 – Owen Grime (KAL)
14:08 – Jayden Kuhlman (OG)
12:36 – Calix Pothast (OG)