Big Green tunes up for soccer tourney

By Dave Boninsegna, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Monday, October 15, 2007 (1 year, 1 month ago)
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OTTOVILLE — Unbeknownst by many, the Ottoville boys soccer team set a school record for goals scored in a season with their victory Thursday evening against Temple Christian, amassing 70 goals to eclipse the old record of 69.
On Friday night, the Big Green celebrated Senior Night, paying homage to Brian Kroeger, Phil Sargent, Eric Gudakunst and Colbey Basinger. The green and gold added two more goals to their record as they defeated the New Knoxville Rangers 2-0 in non-league play.
Sargent and Matt Honigford provided the scoring for the hosts as the Big Green outshot their Auglaize County foe 25-5. Ottoville outshot the Rangers 12-1 in the first half; the hosts put up five attempts in the first 10 minutes, putting a flurry toward Derek Dicke, the New Knoxville netminder.
The Green were having problems finding the goal with their first few attempts going either wide left or wide right. Finally, Sargent found the middle on a header from close range off a throw-in by Andrew Koch to make it a 1-0 contest with 33:20 to go in the first half.
Ottoville continued their assault on the Ranger goalie but to no avail as the hosts were unable to find the back of the net.
Gudakunst nearly got the second score of the half on a deflection off a Ranger defender but Dicke was able to haul it in for a save.
New Knoxville got their first real look at the Big Green net but the strong Ottoville ‘D’ turn the guests away, sending the ball the other direction.
Ottoville began the second half much like they started the match; with frequent shots, with the same results — wide left or right.
Honigford continued his aggressive play but an official considered a slide tackle of the ball involving midfielder, Janet Little, the lone female on the New Knoxville squad, worthy of a yellow card, much to the chagrin of the Ottoville fans.
Big Green netminder Garrett Rayman finally saw action with 31:10 to play and responded with a great save, recovering from being caught out of the net, beating Austin Luck to the ball for the cover.
Ottoville coach Eric Gerker wanted his team to work more on its passing than they have done in the past few games. They responded well with 24:02 showing, using a 3-pass play to get the ball to Honigford; he deposited it past Dicke into the back of the net, giving him his fourth goal in two games and the Big Green a 2-0 advantage.
Kyle Kroeger came in to replace Rayman in the Ottoville net and made a great save of his own. His teammates didn’t give him much to do the rest of the night.
The Big Green (13-2-1) got a bye in the first round of the Division III tournament. They will face the winner of Fort Jennings/Crestview Thursday night in Kalida.

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