Ottawa-Glandorf’s Brent Kuhlman )81) and Ryan Leopold (right) combine to make a stop on this Marion Pleasant player during their game Friday night at Findlay. The Titans won this regional semi-final in overtime.
-Photo by Mark Constance
Ottawa-Glandorf wins in overtime
Dar Nevergall Sports Writer
FINDLAY - Ottawa-Glandorf and Marion Pleasant were certainly no strangers to each other.
The Titans and Spartans met last year in the Regional Semifinals with Marion Pleasant coming out on top.
But that was last year and this was a whole new game. A game that Titan quarterback Taylor Kuhlman and the rest of the O-G team waited a long time to play again.
And unlike last year, this time they would not go away disappointed as Kuhlman ran behind his big offensive line for 146 yards, while passing for another 73, to lead the Titans (8-4) to a 28-21 overtime win and a trip to the Regional Final against Genoa (12-0). The game will be played at Bowling Green State University Friday night at 7:30 PM.
Said Kuhlman, "The game plan was to be more physical than them. We felt as long as we could out-hit them we are going to win the game. Our line has done a fantastic job all season."
Who would have thought the Titans would even have a chance at this game or even the playoffs at all after disappointing losses to Fostoria, Defiance, and St. Mary's and a regular season ending loss to Shawnee that left them at 6-4.
"The lost in the last game of the regular season left a bad taste," said Ottawa-Glandorf coach Ken Schriner. "If you look at the middle of our season we never thought in a million years we would get an opportunity like this and to play them again. We continue to get better and when you are at this point in the season and are still getting better that is unbelievable. I think our senior leadership is taking over. We've got guys that are playing well all over the field."
And the biggest nemesis of all was Kuhlman as time and time again the Titan QB found holes in the Marion Pleasant defense for key gains.
"We went into the game knowing their offense was built around their quarterback and we worked hard all week to make sure we took care of him, but we struggled in that area," said Marion Pleasant Coach Chris Kubbs.
After holding the Spartans to three-and-out in their first possession, O-G needed just seven plays to go 67-yards before Kuhlman went through the left side for a 14-yard touchdown. Nolan Croy booted the extra point and with four-and-a-half minutes gone in the first O-G was up by seven.
The score would remain that way until 2:28 left in the half when Kuhlman again scored, this time from the two, to extend the advantage to 14-0.
Said Schriner, "When you get to this level, you've got to control the line of scrimmage. Our defense played super all night. We knew they had the ability to score from any where and they are a powerful team that's been here before. I'm proud of our kids to hang in there until the end. We rode Taylor Kuhlman all night and he just did an outstanding job. He is one of our best athletes and we were going to do whatever it took to keep the ball in his hands."
Marion Pleasant threatened at the start of the third when the Spartans pushed the ball to the O-G 13.
Two short runs moved it to the eight before an incomplete pass in the end zone left the Spartans with a fourth down.
Pleasant quarterback Cody Harris then completed a pass to Kyle Beck, but a big hit by the Titans' Zach Buckland left them a yard short of the first down and gave the ball back to O-G.
The Spartans, however, forced the Titans to punt and one play later Harris hooked up with Beck down the right sideline for a 54-yard touchdown to pull Marion Pleasant to within seven.
Added Kubbs, "In the first half Ottawa controlled both sides line-wise and were very impressive up front. We didn't capitalize on a couple of big plays which could have gotten the momentum back in our favor. They pretty much had the momentum the whole first half. Even at the end of the game they were controlling both sides of the line. They did a solid job."
Ottawa-Glandorf shook it off though and wasted no time in responding as the Titans' took the kickoff and marched 60-yards in 6 plays to go up 21-7 going into the fourth.
"Unbelievable goal line stands by our defense," Schriner added. "They wanted it bad. We're not fancy in what we do. We just needed to grind it out and we were able to eat up chunks of yardage. That's a credit to the way our kids played up front. On defense I think we forced them to do some things they didn't want to do including making them throw the ball more and that is not their style."
Back came the Spartans at the start of the fourth as Harris connected with Elijah Sparling with two tosses and Beck for one to move the ball to the three where Jake Lawrence took it over to tie the game.
Then came the overtime as O-G got the ball first at the twenty and two five-yard runs by Kuhlman and Jacob Lugo move the chains to the ten.
Two more runs by Lugo (who finished with 93 yards on 15 attempts) took it to the one, before Kuhlman followed his line up the middle for the go-ahead score.
But Marion Pleasant got one last shot and Harris quickly put the Spartans in good position with a 12-yard strike to Cory Snyder to place the ball at the eight.
However, the O-G defense stiffened, holding Marion Pleasant on downs as Harris' last pass sailed out of the end zone to end the Spartans' season at 10-2.
"We told them you have fourth-down and nine," Schriner said. "You've got to defend nine yards and keep them out of the end zone. That was the longest nine yards of my life."
Kuhlman finished with 24 carries for his 146 yards and was 4 of 9 passing. Ryan Kuhlman got two of those passes for 60 yards, while Brian Laubenthal pulled in the other two tosses for 13 yards.
Harris finished the night 19 of 31 for 222 yards, while running for 41 yards on 12 keepers. Beck led the Spartan receivers with 107 yards on 7 catches.
* * *
Marion Pleasant 0 0 7 14 0 - 21
Ott-Glandorf 7 7 7 0 7 - 28
MP OG
17 First Downs 12
296 Total Yards 320
28-74 Atts-Rushing Yds. 46-247
19-31 Pass Att-Comp 4-9
0 Intercepted 2
222 Passing Yards 73
0-0 Fumbles-Lost 0-0
6-39.2 Punts-Avg. 4-43.8
3-15 Penalties-Yds. 3-30
Scoring Summary
OG - Taylor Kuhlman 14-yard run (Nolan Croy kick) 7:20 1st
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