'Riders win WBL, top Kenton in tourney opener

ST. MARYS - The phrase "Go, Celina" isn't typically uttered by those in St. Marys.

It was okay to say that if you were a St. Marys soccer fan on Monday night.

Roughly an hour after St. Marys posted a 4-0 win over Kenton to open Division II sectional tournament play, the Roughriders got some help from their neighbors to the west - as Celina's 2-2 draw against Wapakoneta gave St. Marys the outright Western Buckeye League championship for the second consecutive season.

"Back-to-back, it hadn't been done in quite a while on the boys soccer side. Of course, we've never done it, so (winning) is nice," a smiling St. Marys coach Dave Ring said. "(The title) means a lot. It'll mean a lot to these kids, especially after all the injuries and everything we've went through during the season, just to persevere.

"We got ranked. We knocked off ranked teams. We couldn't ask for a better season," he continued. "When we were 1-2-2, people were writing us off, and I'm like, 'Well, give us another week. We're going to be healed.' "

The Roughriders certainly appeared at full strength entering the Kenton game, having outscored teams 10-0 over their last five games. The game against the Wildcats was no different.

Matt Dine put forth a tremendous individual effort to put St. Marys on the scoreboard with 27 minutes left in the opening half, out-hustling a Kenton defender to the ball in the goal box and burning keeper Hunter Phillips for a 1-0 lead. The goal came a minute after Phillips had denied Dine's shot attempt with a tremendous save.

Zac Nelson put the 'Riders up 2-0 with a goal five minutes later. Nelson bent in a corner kick to give his team a 3-0 cushion with 38:49 remaining in the second half. Riley Niekamp added St. Marys' final goal with 11 minutes left in the half.

Nathan Wilker had a team-high two assists, while Nathan Falk and Jared Rose each added one.

"We wanted to work on possession. We knew Kenton was going to have a game plan that was basically going to protect their own end and spread out," Ring said. "If you noticed, Nelson had four guys one him.

"So it was good for us to work on what we needed to do. I thought we did exactly what we needed to in this game."   

The win sets up a matchup with Bryan at home on Thursday. The game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. but there is a good chance it will be switched to 7 p.m. due to the distance Bryan must travel.

"They're a little bit different than they were last year, but they play the same way," said Ring about Bryan. "Their style is the same. They've had their ups and downs but they're going to be a very good team and it's going to be a team we'll have to possess against."

St. Marys' focus will shift towards Bryan come later today, but Monday night was all about celebrating a feat that everyone on the team worked so hard to make happen.

"Everybody, all 22, has combined to the success," Ring said. "That's the best part. Everybody has combined to the success, because everybody has had to play."