Preparation was key to Ottawa Hills’ boys run to state soccer championship match
OTTAWA HILLS – The old guy whose face is pictured on the $100 bill once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
Second-year head coach JR Hall and his coaching staff on the Ottawa Hills High School boys soccer team made sure Benjamin Franklin’s famous quote never applied to the Green Bears this fall, particularly when they entered the postseason tournament.
“We were definitely prepared and we knew what we had to do,” junior defensive midfielder Gabe Grimm said. “We knew our positions, where to be on the field … they really got us ready for that in practice. They weren’t too hard on us. We wanted to have fun. We enjoyed our time at practices and we got the job done when we needed to.”
Ottawa Hills, a Division V program, played a challenging schedule during the regular season. Close losses or ties against bigger D-I programs like St. John’s Jesuit, St. Francis de Sales, Southview, Northview, Springfield, and Findlay contributed to the Green Bears’ 6-9-2 record.
It also got them prepared for what was to come.
“It toughened us up,” senior center-back Jaiden Dubois said. “We played great competition. We did end up losing most of those games, but playing against better teams, we were prepared for being down and playing in harder circumstances. In the tournament, we were prepared for those circumstances.”
Ottawa Hills’ boys soccer tradition is well known around the state and Northwest Ohio in particular. The Bears, competing in the smallest school division, have advanced to the state semifinals eight times in 17 years. The 2008 team, coached by Greg McElroy, finished 20-3-0 and capped off that season with a 1-0 win over Worthington Christian in the D-III state championship match.
The Bears lost in the D-III state finals in 2017 and 2022, and lost in the semifinals in 2010, 2012, 2020 and 2021.
“There definitely is pressure, knowing we have such a good program that has been successful in the past,” Dubois said. “In the preseason we often see (former) players come back and they play with us.”
Grimm said every Ottawa Hills player is “more than aware” of the school’s past soccer success in the postseason. He said the current players feel like it is their job to “keep it rolling.”
“We know Ottawa Hills has been a great soccer school for many years,” said Grimm, who also plays shortstop on the baseball team. “Going into this year, we didn’t think we were going to live up to that. We went up against all odds. We didn’t think we had the strongest team, but when we played St. Francis and St. John’s, that showed us we can compete with these teams.
“They were all very close games until the very end. They definitely knew what Ottawa Hills soccer is. They don’t think of us as an easy game at all.”
One game at a time
In Hall, the Green Bears have a coach who embraces that tradition.
A native of Jamaica, Hall’s hometown was battered by Hurricane Melissa on Oct. 28. He moved to the U.S. in 2009 and played forward at Owens Community College and Bowling Green State University.
Hall was an assistant coach at Ottawa Hills from 2021-23 and last season, in his first year as head coach, took the Bears to the regional semifinals where they lost 1-0 to Van Buren. Hall said his goal this season was “to take it one game at a time.”
“My sole concentration is the game we are playing,” Hall said. “My experience is to play it game by game. In the postseason we had fairly good information on the teams we were playing, and I was able to set up our team in a way we could be competitive.”
The Green Bears had four seniors, three of whom were starters, but two of those seniors were injured at some point during the season. Ottawa Hills relied on its defense the entire time.
“Defense was the thing that carried our team,” Hall said. “The games we lost big are the games where our defense made mistakes. Defense was definitely a strong point of our season.”
Hall said the fact that the Green Bears, who took second place in the Toledo Area Athletic Conference behind Maumee Valley Country Day School, earned a No. 1 seed in the Northwest 2 sectional/district was a sign of respect.
“We weren’t surprised,” Hall said. “We played St. John’s, St. Francis, Findlay, Northview, and Southview and it helped us a lot. Playing those tough games at the end really encouraged the boys.”
The Green Bears opened the postseason with an 8-0 rout of Woodmore on Oct. 18. The Wildcats never had a chance.
“The coaching staff did an amazing job,” Dubois said. “For that first game, we did so much to prepare and went through so many drills for our shooting, and it showed.”
The Bears followed that with wins over Mansfield Christian (1-0), Ottoville (2-1), and Fort Jennings (5-1) before avenging a regular season loss to Maumee Valley with a 3-2 win over the Hawks in the regional finals.
Know who you’re playing
Ottawa Hills beat Kidron Central Christian, 1-0, in the state semifinal match in Sandusky, setting up the title match against top-ranked Cincinnati Summit Country Day, which needed overtime to beat Milford Center Fairbanks, 2-1, in the other state semifinal.
“We knew who we were playing,” Grimm said. “They were a great team and we had to come out hard. We already did the hard job by making it to that game. We just had to go out there and try to win it now.”
Hall said he knew what the Green Bears were up against. Summit Country Day had outscored its previous three opponents 8-1, and the Silver Knights’ girls’ team won the D-IV state title, its third straight, three days earlier.
“We were playing against a team where 80 to 90 percent of their players play Club,” Hall said. “We don’t have a lot of players who play Club. We have a school where players run track or play baseball after soccer is finished. We were happy that our boys could do this against a school that has 80 to 90 percent of their players in Club.”
Summit Country Day, which won its ninth state title, scored twice in the 20th minute of the match to take a 2-0 lead. The goals came 27 seconds apart. Ottawa Hills went on to a 5-1 loss and avoided a shutout when junior midfielder Ibraheem Alaani converted a free kick into the upper right corner in the 74th minute.
“Ibraheem had been practicing that kick in the postseason, either before or after practice,” Hall said.
Sophomore keeper Burke Pfeiffer made eight saves for the Bears, who had a 14-1 disadvantage in shots on goal.
“Summit was way ahead of us that game,” Grimm said, “but we didn’t give up. We got that one goal. After the game, no one was really devastated. We were all proud of ourselves and we were happy to be playing in that game.”
Dubois said playing for a state championship “meant everything,” and he and his teammates never sulked after falling short in the finals.
“It was a major accomplishment, even though we didn’t win it,” he said. “It was an amazing season. We had to work together to accomplish our goals. It really is a brotherhood and we all love each other.”
Senior forward Avi Hanusz led the Bears (12-10-2) with 14 goals this season, while sophomore right wing Savio Deigar and junior attacking midfielder Andy He had eight goals apiece.
Grimm and right/left wing Archie Talbott scored five goals each, Talbott had a team-high nine assists, Deigar had six assists, and Pfeiffer had 82 saves in goal. The Green Bears posted seven shutouts.
“I will remember the joy and togetherness and bond from the boys at practice and in games,” Hall said. “The final was just the cherry on top, to have that bond and family from what I saw every day. They know how hard they worked during the season and they did everything they had to during the season.”
Grimm said the team became “a complete family” during the season.
“With every win or loss, we knew we would come together and we knew what to do to get the job done,” Grimm said. “We had the most fun this year and that helped us go far in the playoffs.
“It’s one thing to take things seriously, but you have to have fun while you’re doing it.”
