WHITEHOUSE — Perrysburg sophomore Aydson Brown scored the Yellow Jackets’ only goal in a 1-0 win over Anthony Wayne Saturday, securing a Northern Lakes League Buckeye Division outright title.

Having sole possession of the championship trophy was important to the Yellow Jackets.

“It feels really good since they are our rival and it’s the last game of the NLL, and it feels good to have it all to ourselves and not having to share it with them,” Brown said.

Perrysburg coach Jorge Diaz added, “We knew we had it this year, but we wanted to have it all ourselves. The girls wanted the same and we are very fortunate that we had a good game.

“We put up a good goal right away and that kind of gave us a little peace because we felt like we could hold them back. They are very dangerous in set pieces, but we were able to be organized, and that was the key to the game.”

The Yellow Jackets conclude the regular season unbeaten at 16-0-1 overall and 8-0 in the NLL. Perrysburg outscored opponents, 73-8, and junior goalkeeper Elizabeth Motter and freshman keeper Tori Trzcinski combined to record 10 shutouts.

For Perrysburg, ranked fifth in the state coaches’ poll, beating AW, ranked 14th, on the Generals’ pitch in heavy rain and wind was going to be a challenge.

“The weather was a bit of a concern,” Diaz said. “We just wanted to be patient. We knew it was going to be a back-and-forth game and we just wanted to be very organized.”

Diaz said the Yellow Jackets did make adjustments on defense, partly for the weather, and partly to defend against AW junior Lila Simon.

“We had a nice little shape on the back — we switched on the formation — we had three center backs and two wide so we knew that Lila Simon was going to be trouble,” Diaz said. “She was moving all over the place and we tried to mark her well.”

From 15 yards out, Brown turned and sent a left-footed shot into the back right corner of the net with 10:43 remaining in the first half. It was her fifth goal of the season.

“It was a team effort,” Brown said. “My teammates passed the ball to me and I stayed calm and composed and took a couple touches around the goalie and I finished back post.”

Brown said playing in wind, rain, and a grass field made the game more challenging.

“It’s more just all about your work ethic,” Brown said. “Obviously, I think it favors a really skilled team but it’s wet and in grass like this, you just have to work hard and win every ball out of the air.”

Brown’s goal stood up the final 50 minutes-plus. Perrysburg outshot AW, 19-13, including 13-11 in shots on goal, but both teams had scoring opportunities. Corner kicks were rare, with each team getting two tries.

Simon, who had to leave the game with 5:10 remaining because of an injury, had two back-to-back scoring opportunities in the first half.

Simon beat a defender and had a breakaway, going one-on-one with Trzcinski, but the Perrysburg freshman responded by coming at her to reduce the angle and then making a stop at close range with 20:30 remaining in the first half.

Simon had another shot from 25 yards out where it was just her and Trzcinski, but again the Perrysburg freshman got the save.

Speedy Perrysburg freshman Elyza Byrd beat a defender down the left sideline and was one-on-one with AW junior keeper Addie Bell, but Bell was able to get the stop with 15:30 remaining.

A minute-and-a-half later, a non-goalie header save by Perrysburg’s back line saved the Generals during a corner kick opportunity.

Perrysburg sophomore forward Emma Ogdahl (team high 19 goals, nine assists this season), who had scored six goals during the week in back-to-back 4-1 wins over Ottawa-Glandorf and Toledo St. Ursula, had a second half shot, likely meant to be a cross, that was deflected and almost found the corner of the net.

The second half got physical as the Generals needed to score twice to earn a share of the NLL title. The game saw 25 fouls, including two yellow cards whistled against Perrysburg and one against AW, all three in the second half.

AW started firing long range shots from nearly anywhere within 35 yards, forcing Trzcinski to kick 10 punts in the second half, but the Generals were unable to convert. However, this was a different game than their first meeting.

The first meeting at Steinecker Stadium, Perrysburg cruised to a 4-1 victory, so AW coach Lori Williams was pleased to see her team still in the game as the clock wound down.

“It’s not good enough but a lot better than the first time we played them, right? You’re greatest hope is as a coach is that the girls get better every day,” Williams said.

“I think that we showed today that we were better today than the last time we played them, but it’s still not good enough. They won the day and they did well with their chances.”

AW finishes the regular season 10-5-2 overall and 6-2 in the NLL. In the upcoming Division I district tournament, Perrysburg was the top seed and AW was No. 2, but they drew different brackets and would not meet again until the regional tournament.

Even though the seeding would seem to say the two are destined to meet again, Williams is not making any predictions.

“We’ve got way too many things before that happens,” Williams said. “We’ve got to take it one game at a time, but that could happen, of course.

“We’ve got Tiffin Columbian, that is the only team we’re looking at and we are not going to look past them, so Tiffin Columbian on Wednesday (Oct. 18) and then if it happens, it happens, but that is not something we are going to forecast because we want to take care of Tiffin.”

Perrysburg opens tournament play Wednesday by hosting Sandusky at Steinecker Stadium at 6 p.m.

A win puts the Yellow Jackets in a district semifinal against the Bowling Green-Wapakoneta winner on Monday, October 23 for a 7:30 kickoff at Springfield Community Stadium in Holland