GLANDORF – Ottawa Glandorf knocked St. Marys from the ranks of the Western Buckeye League’s unbeatens on Tuesday night as they defeated the visiting Roughriders 2-1 in for their first regular season win in the rivalry since a 2-1 victory in 2015.
Both teams traded possessions quickly through the first 20 minutes of the first half on the grass while being unable to capitalize on opportunities to add the games first score.
St. Marys finally broke through for the opening marker with 17:21 left in the first half as junior Easton Craft snagged a loose ball near midfield and raced toward the goal before passing off to teammate Wyatt Chapman who tallied his eighth goal of the year by racing a shot past Titan goalkeeper Dylan Birkemeier for a 1-0 lead.
Ottawa Glandorf tied the matchup at 1-1 with 8:37 remaining in the half following a foul on St. Marys that placed a free kick just outside the box.
Jordan Schroeder’s popup kick was headed towards the goal by teammate Austin Birkemeier and subsequently headed into the goal by Alex Mackie past Rider keeper Reese Triplett for a goal to tie things up.
OG senior Mike Evers provided the final marker of the game with 3:51 to go in the first half of play when he corralled a ball and redirected it to the back of the net past Triplett to give his Titans a 2-1 lead they would carry into the second half.
Though each squad found themselves with a handful of opportunities in the second half to add to or tie up the score, neither would be able to as the play of Birkemeier and Triplett kept their opponents off the scoreboard.
St. Marys (4-1-1) sees their WBL mark fall to 2-1 on the season and will next be back in action on Thursday evening at 7:00 P.M. at Roughrider Field when they play host to Route 66 rival Spencerville in a non-league tilt.
Ottawa Glandorf improves to 5-1-1 on the year and into a second place tie with the Roughriders in league play with a 2-1 record. Next up for the Titans is a Thursday evening non-league visit to Napoleon.
Goals:
17:21 – Wyatt Chapman (SM)
8:37 – Alex Macke (OG)
3:51 – Mike Evers (OG)