MERCY RULE WIN … Nathan Elliott of Delta moves the ball down the field for the Panthers as they won a sectional title by beating Toledo Scott 8-0. (PHOTO BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
By: Joe Blystone
DELTA (October 16, 2023) – After playing a soccer schedule the last seven days that rivaled the difficulty level of the SEC West or the PAC-12 in FBS football, Delta needed a bit of a breather.
The Panthers got such a game in a Division II sectional final contest and took full advantage with a 9-1 rout of Toledo Scott to advance to next week’s district tournament against the winner of the Maumee-Toledo Central Catholic match.
“We have a week off now until (the district semifinal),” Delta coach KJ Abair said. “We are going to give them the next two days off to relax after having a long stretch of Lima Shawnee, Evergreen (two teams that had combined records of 25-2-4), Maumee Valley (a number two seed in Division III) and Bowling Green.”
The Panthers went 1-2-1 in that gauntlet of high-quality opponents.
“Five games in seven days is quite a bit so we will get back to work Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and go from there.”
The match was halted at halftime with the newly implemented OHSAA rule that if there is an eight-goal difference at halftime of later, the match is considered over.
Senior Luke Reinhard scored three times in the first 14 minutes to start the onslaught of first half goals, scoring on assists from Alex York of a feed from the right of the net, Sam Mohring assisting from the left side, then on a rebound off Cooper Tenney’s shot.
Tenney got into the goal column on an up-field pass from Reinhard with 25:15 left to make it 4-0.
The Panthers added two more scores before the 20 minutes mark of the first half as Tyson Bower scored off an end line run and punch in front by Alex York, the York tacked on a sixth goal from Miguel Deeds-Rodriguez.
Joel Arroyo-Sierra got into the act with the next two Panther scores the first on an assist from Bower. Eli Armstrong capped off Panther scoring on Bower’s second assist.
Enrique Coy broke the shutout with 2:19 left from right in front of the Panther goal off a bad pass.
Toledo Scott – Goal: Enrique Coy
Delta (13-4-1) – Goal: Luke Reinhard 3, Joel Arroyo-Sierra 2, Tyson Bower, Cooper Tenney, Alex York, Eli Armstrong; Assists: Tyson Bower 3, Alex York 2, Sam Mohring, Max York, Miguel Deeds-Rodriguez; Saves: Zac Bower 3
Joe can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com
