PERRYSBURG — Perrysburg boys soccer opened the season losing to Toledo St. Francis, 4-1, but since then the Yellow Jackets have not lost and only given up three goals in 11 games.

Perrysburg reached double figures in the win columnTuesday night with a 2-0 Northern Lakes League Buckeye Division victory over Sylvania Northview at Steincker Stadium, improving to 10-1-1 overall and 6-0-1 in the NLL.

The Yellow Jackets, now ranked seventh in the Division I state coaches’ poll, had already clinched an NLL Buckeye Division championship before taking on the Wildcats, the program’s first title in 13 years. Twelve seniors are the heartbeat of this team.

“It means quite a bit to the players probably more than anything,” Perrysburg coach Dennis Jeansonne said.

“It’s been 13 years, so since 2010 we haven’t won an NLL championship. One of my biggest things when I came in here and started coaching a couple years ago was to see if we could turn that around.

“So those that were here and saw once we clinched it, the kids were elated. It means a lot to them. It means a lot to me, too, but I think it means more to them and it should. They earned it and they’ve been working hard for it.”

Senior midfielder Matthew Zinn leads the team in scoring with 29 points on 11 goals and seven assists. Zinn, who had a goal and an assist in Tuesday’s win over Northview, says the NLL title has taken years of effort. It didn’t just happen overnight.

“It’s my senior year, so the other seniors and myself, we were trying to hype the team up and we got the job done. We got the job done,” Zinn said.

“Obviously, undefeated in the league at 6-0-1 at this time is a pretty big honor and pretty important to us. We fought for it and we got it.

“We’ve put in so much work,” Zinn continued. “The heartbreaking loss last year (to Anthony Wayne that cost Perrysburg the league title last year) really put us towards getting it this year — you know, one goal away.

“It put us in a good mindset that we have to win this year, it’s our last chance, so we really put in the effort.”

AW (4-5-3, 2-1-3) and Perrysburg fought to a scoreless 0-0 tie in both teams’ NLL opener at Steinecker Stadium, but in Whitehouse the Generals came away with a 1-0 win on September 19. That, along with a 6-1 win over Toledo Whitmer last week, secured it.

Title secured, but no letdown

One might have thought there would be a letdown against Northview Tuesday after already securing the NLL title, but Perrysburg outshot the Wildcats 15-8, including 8-5 in shots on goal.

The Jackets controlled about 65% of possession, but it wasn’t just that — it was the quality of each possession and the ability by each player to make solid passes and quality shots.

“A lot of these kids have been playing with me for three and four years. They know how we want to play the game,” Jeansonne said.

“They control games much better now than they ever have. It’s just getting that final product is where we’ve struggled. The last couple weeks we’ve done a really good job.

“Tonight, we got two but it could have been more. We had some opportunities, we just didn’t score on all those opportunities.”

Perrysburg scored it’s first goal on its first shot on net. After securing control at the left wing, Zinn sent a cross into a scrum of players, and junior defender Isaac Klapper nailed it forward past Northview junior goalkeeper Hutch Saggese with 23:44 remaining in the first half.

“I saw him running through, he played me the ball, I just turned and passed it through and he got it,” Zinn said. “It was just a good dump.”

In the second half, Perrysburg had six corner kick opportuntities, so Zinn and a teammate set up a play they ran several times untit it finally worked.

Junior midfielder Dylan Motter sent the corner kick, and Zinn came off a pick and found the back end of Motter’s boot with his chest and one-timed it into the net with 17:24 remaining in the game. It, too, was Perrysburg’s first shot on net of the half.

“It was three corners of the same thing,” Zinn said. “My buddy (junior defender) Connor (Sniadanko), he set like a pick for me and I just ran through and I got it. We planned it and it worked out — credit to Connor.”

Topping it off at the end was a diving save by senior goalkeeper Isaac Revill, who had four saves on the night and was fortunate one shot went off the crossbar.

But with less than two minutes remaining, the Wildcats had him out of goal and beat, or so it appeared, but he dived back and still got the save. It helped preserve Perrysburg’s eighth shutout in their last 10 games.

“We all thought he was beat, but he was quick enough and athletic enough to get back in it and make the save that he needed to make,” Jeansonne said.

“Since, the first game we have given up three goals in 11 games, so a lot to be said for our defense and to our two goalies. Isaac is just one of two, but they are two fantastic keepers.”

Senior defender Taylor Thomas says that is the difference between this team now and the team that lost to St. Francis (now 5-4-2) in the season opener.

“We had a decent summer, but going into the first game we had a lot of new kids,” Thomas said. “We weren’t ready.

“But the seniors, we stepped up, and we’re bringing everybody up as a team. Now, we are just working together more as a team and not like individuals, and we’re just pushing through.”

Now that the league title is secured, Thomas, who is also the placekicker on the Perrysburg football team, says there still remains plenty of soccer to be played. Plus, there could also be a rematch with St. Francis in the tournament.

“I mean, going in day one, this was our goal,” said Thomas. “We haven’t won it since 2010 and each day we go in with that goal in mind. But we’re not stopping here.

“We worked for it and we’re proud of it and going undefeated in the NLL is nice and all, but we have our sights further and we just have to keep pushing each game one game at a time.”

Behind Zinn in scoring, senior forward Alex Diaz has 11 goals and four assists, junior forward London Stock has four goals and three assists and Sniadanko and junior midfielder Caden Geissler have three goals and two assists apiece.