Ottawa-Glandorf’s Adam Maag (top) clears the ball away from Bryan’s Max Burton during Thursday’s Division IV sectional boys soccer final at Golden Bear Stadium in Bryan.
Jonathan LeBlanc | Bryan Times
BRYAN — Bryan team netted an early goal against Ottawa-Glandorf in Thursday night’s Division IV sectional final at Golden Bear Stadium in Bryan.
It turned out to be all the Golden Bears needed.
That goal, scored by junior Jack Kennedy, went unanswered as Bryan staved off the No. 7-seeded Titans for a 1-0 victory in the Defiance District, giving the No. 3-seeded Golden Bears their first district appearance since 2019.
“As a freshman (in 2022), we won our first game and lost our second game 10-0 to Shawnee, who ended up being the state champs. And seeing how well they played, I took a lot of inspiration from them and tried to enforce that into my own team,” Bryan junior defender Carter Luce said. “It’s exciting to see us come this far because in my freshman year, it was boot the ball forward and hope for a chance. And now it’s possess the ball, play it through, play dropbacks.
“It’s so much better than where we were even three years ago.”
The lone goal for Bryan (11-4-2) — which also beat O-G 4-1 on Aug. 31 — was indicative of the Golden Bears’ style of play.
On the left side, Max Burton hit Carter Altaffer near the sideline. Altaffer then worked his way in and sent a cross to Kennedy, who put it past O-G goalkeeper James Niese with 30:57 left in the first half.
“(Burton) had a great ball to (Altaffer) on the left wing, and I saw him cutting in so I knew I had to be on the back side, be in the right position, just get a touch on it… and it ended up going in,” Jack Kennedy said.
Kennedy’s goal also eased the Golden Bears’ nerves.
“It got us excited honestly,” Luce said. “I know before the game a bunch of the guys were super nervous. But we needed to turn those nerves into excitement, and putting that one in got us all really excited and amped up to keep playing.”
That excitement led to a Bryan-favored first half which included seven shots, three on goal and a couple deep shots just missing over the crossbar, to O-G’s two (one on goal).
“We were controlling the possession of the game, we were giving ourselves good attacks,” Bryan coach Luke Collins said. “That’s something we work on in training is getting the ball out wide. Our wingers drive at the defenders and then put the ball across.”
But the Titans didn’t back down.
O-G responded with six shots (four on goal) to Bryan’s five (two on goal) in the second half and three corners to the Golden Bears’ two, including one that almost resulted in a goal.
With over 25 minutes to go, a Wyatt Crow corner was headed towards the net but hit the field goal post just over the crossbar.
Bryan’s defense then cleared a trick play on a free kick from the 10-yard line with about 15 minutes left while Jayden Kuhlman’s breakaway shot from the left side with just under 10 minutes remaining went over the crossbar.
The Titans also had a corner in the final seconds of the match, but couldn’t get a touch on it before it was cleared.
O-G finished with nine shots (five on goal) to Bryan’s 12 (five on goal).
“At the beginning of the game, we came out with a low block, trying to keep it out in front of us, and we had that little mistouch that led to the first goal,” said O-G coach Kyle Metzger, whose team ended the year 6-11-2. “In the second half, we turned around and had to go more press, so we went from a 3-2-3-2 to a 4-4-2, pushed the ball up and got more guys in the midfield and tried to create a lot more chances.”
Metzger said that the missed chances were also a reflection of the Titans’ season.
“The season of missed opportunities. That would be the one thing,” Metzger said. “We just had multiple chances. Even all the other games, we just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net. That’s the biggest thing.”
Jonathan LeBlanc wrote this story for LimaScores.com
