D2 DISTRICT SEMIFINALS … Wauseon’s Daniel Jiminez waits on a pass during the Indians 3-0 win over Perkins. (PHOTO BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
By: Joe Blystone
MILLBURY (October 23, 2023) – Wauseon made the most of early opportunity, scoring on their first two shots of the match, and went on to beat Sandusky Perkins, 3-0 in the nightcap of a Division II boys soccer district semifinal at Lake High School.
In the opener, Delta also had a couple early chances but couldn’t put the sphere in the back of the net and gave up a pair of second half goals to drop a 2-0 decision to Maumee.
The Indians and Maumee will now battle for the district title October 26th, again at Lake.
It only took a little more than five minutes into the contest for the Indians to get the only goal they would need.
Braden Vajen took Gavin Gerig’s centering pass at about the 20-yard line, circled to his right and buried a rocket into the right side of the net at the 34:41 checkpoint of the first half.
It took Wauseon some 17 minutes to get another shot at the net, but again it was a highly quality set up.
After a long up field ball was mishandled by the Perkins netminder, Gerig beat the goalie back to the rock and punched a shot from right in front, off the inside of the right post and into the net to double the Wauseon margin.
“We watched a little film on them, and we wanted to make their defense work a little more,” Indian veteran coach Casey Elson said after the win.
“We saw a lot of teams they played were hesitant to get up and get after them and we love our speed, so we said, ‘let’s be the first ones to attack here’.”
“Gavin with a great pass to Braden and Braden putting into the back of the net. They have been doing it all year for me and I was glad to see them step up and do that.”
The Indians got off three more shots in the first half that Noah Normington-Slay captured but defensively, Wauseon didn’t allow any great looks at goalkeeper Brody Balser.
Wauseon got the kill shot for the night 10 minutes into the second half. Benecio Torres set up Gerig with a pass into an open area in the middle, and the high scoring senior hammered a drive into the upper 90 on the right side for the final tally of the match.
Perkins mustered eight second half shots, including a Landon Williams’ header that Balser speared with eight minutes left, and Ryan Wells’ long range shot that the sophomore goalie made a leaping save on with three minutes to go to preserve the shutout.
“Last year he was a freshman and he kind of made those silly freshman mistakes sometimes. We added a goalie coach this year which is something new for us and I thought the work (Balser) has put in has been amazing and again he didn’t have to work too hard tonight and well, he really has started to mature as a goalie,” Elson expressed of his sophomore stopper.
Delta also started fast in the first 15 minutes, getting ahead of Maumee defenders on the edge. Max York garnered a loose ball right of goal and sent a shot that had the Maumee goalie beat but the ball crossed wide.
Later, Luke Reinhard, working the end line, found Sam Mohring in front but Mohring’s shot also went wide.
“The first 15 minutes we were controlling some stuff, we had some great balls on the backside that we just practiced the other day,” said Delta coach KJ Abair. “We just couldn’t capitalize in those first 15 minutes.”
Delta goalie Brodey Roth, playing through a lower limb injury, kept the match scoreless at half in the last minute of the first when he jumped and corralled Mahmoud Abdelrazek’s shot from a sharp angle right of the net.
For the first 40 minutes, Delta kept one of the highest scoring players in Ohio, Blake Wagener, in check, allowing him minimal room to work much less get off a shot.
However, 96 seconds into the second half, the junior midfielder surrounded by three Delta Panthers made a left-right-left-and shot move from the top of the 18 that hit the back of the mesh for a 1-0 Maumee lead.
With 31:47 to go, Delta was called for an inadvertent handball in the box and Wagener drove the penalty kick under a diving Roth for the last score of the match.
“We told them they had done a great job on Wagener and to again not let him turn to his right. Then he makes a move and gets to his right,” Abair explained. “Then the handball was just one of those unlucky things that we had to try to come back from.”
York had a drive with 11 left that Taylor Lewis made the save on, and Eli Mora had the last legit opportunity for Delta to score with just under four minutes on the clock, but his shot went wide right.
Delta’s season ended with a very creditable 13-5-1 mark to go with a Division II Sectional title.
“I’m thrilled with season,” Abair closed with.
“We added Lima Shawnee and a couple tougher teams like BG on our schedule to help us get ready for the tournament.”
“I mean the two league games we dropped Evergreen is a good team, Wauseon is good, they are both fast and physical and we just couldn’t finish in those games, but you know I thought we played well all season.”
“The eight boys we lose are all good kids and they have been playing since they were about 10 so they made coaching really easy.”
Maumee (18-0-1) – Goals: Blake Wagener 2; Assist: Mac Abdelrazek; Saves: Taylor Lewis 6
Delta (13-5-1) – no statistics
Wauseon (15-3) – Gavin Gerig 2, Braden Vajen; Assists: Braden Vajen, Benicio Torres
Perkins (14-2-1) – no statistics
Joe can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com
