COLUMBUS – Friday night’s Division 3 state championship game came down to one shot, a goal by Waynesville to win the title 1-0 over Ottawa Glandorf.
Making their second state appearance and first since 2002 the Spartans representing the Southwestern Buckeye League found themselves squaring off with the 11th best offense in OHSAA history in Ottawa Glandorf who had accounted for 122 goals on the season.
In front of a crowd of 278 and at times a driving rain on the Lower.Com pitch the two teams engaged in a war of attrition that saw shots come at a premium.
Though each side worked deep into the box of their opponent in the first half neither team was able to dent the scoreboard through the opening 40 minutes of play as the game carried into the halftime break tied 0-0.
Early in the second half with 51:49 off the clock the Spartans earned their fifth corner kick of the game on a ball blocked out of play by the Titans.
Ottawa Glandorf goal keeper Emma Brinkman blocked the initial shot by Waynesville’s Laine Kuhns off of the lofted shot from the corner but was unable to stop a redirected shot by Emma Whittaker who found the top center of goal off a right footed shot to put her squad on top 1-0 with 52:22 gone.
Fighting off a rainy night on the field the teams traded possessions and runs through the rest of the second half but came up empty as each side finished with no goals over the final twenty plus minutes.
Waynesville out shot the Titans 15-5 in the game with a 7-2 shots on goal advantage. Spartan goal keeper Gracyn Armstrong turned away both shots she faced while her counterpart Emma Brinkman finished with six saves.
Ottawa Glandorf’s season finishes with a school record 21 wins and two losses while the champion Spartans end their 2021 campaign with a 16-6 mark.