by TAREENA CLARK
The Delphos Herald

KALIDA — Kalida’s boys soccer team hosted the Fort Jennings Musketeers Thursday night at Kalida Soccer Stadium in a matchup of Putnam County League archrivals.
The Wildcats managed to hang on to win 2-1 in a hard-fought battle.
Kalida was the only one to score in the first half, with Jordan Basinger getting it down in the first 10 minutes of action.
The Musketeers’ Brad Bruskotter had a nice shot lined up for the tie but Kalida’s goalkeeper, Adam Berheide (credited with 5 saves versus 15 shots by the Musketeers), dove for the save to preserve the 1-goal lead.
At the 1-minute mark, Fort Jennings’ Aaron Chandler made a goal attempt but it was over the cross bar and out of bounds.
He got another chance just 30 seconds later and the clock winding down but, once again, he misfired, this time going wide of the goal, leaving the halftime score 1-0, Kalida.
A foul on gave Kalida a free shot in the second half. Ryan Kleman took the kick and Basinger helped it get past Musketeer senior keeper Ross Gerdeman to bring the score to 2-0 in favor of the homestanding Wildcats.
Fort Jennings had a long possession down the field, with a resulting attempt on the goal thwarted by Berheide once more.
A short time later, Berheide came up with the goods once again. It got congested around the goal when Bruskotter tried to squeeze one into the twine but the Kalida keeper came up with the save to keep it a 2-0 spread.
The Musketeers tried to connect for a goal but were once again stonewalled by the senior netminder.
Fort Jennings got the ball back and finally broke through to get on board. Bruskotter  booted it past Berheide to bring the score within 2-1 with five minutes left in the game.
Fort Jennings continued its efforts to even the score but came just shy of the goal.
The match ended with Fort Jennings trying one last time but to no avail.
Kalida (2-0-1,  1-0 PCL) entertains Celina under the lights (7 p.m.) Saturday.
The Musketeers (1-2-1, 0-1 PCL) host Continental 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.