At Kazmaier Stadium Thursday, Lake junior Jonathan Specht gets around Maumee sophomore midfielder Noah Preciado during the Panthers’ 4-0 NBC title clinching victory. (Lee Welch/Sentinel-Tribune)
MAUMEE — Lake went into their Northern Buckeye Conference championship match at Maumee’s Kazmaier Stadium optimistic, but the Panthers had not lost yet, and in most games, they haven’t come close.
Maumee got two goals from senior forward Austin Dwyer and two from junior midfielder Blake Wagener to defeat the Flyers, 4-0, and end the Flyers’ hopes for a Northern Buckeye Conference championship.
Lake soccer has been strong under coach Brian Reed, but there always seems to be someone in the way. The last three years it was Genoa, which won three straight championships.
However, the Flyers shared the title last year with the Comets. This year it is Maumee who was in the way, in their first year in the conference.
“Maumee is a tough team,” Reed said. “The guys played great. We picked up where we left off last year. We had an opportunity to get another one. Now, we’ll get ready for the tournament.”
Maumee finishes the regular season 15-0-1 overall and 6-0 in the Northern Buckeye Conference, outscoring NBC foes, 41-0. The Panthers’ season included 12 shutouts behind senior goalkeeper Taylor Lewis (65 saves).
“It’s absolutely amazing,” Maumee coach Chad Kain said. “The run we are on right now —undefeated, 15-0-1, we give up no goals in the NBC, we scored 101 goals (overall) this year.
“When I came in, this is what you dream of as a coach,” Kain continued. “My seniors are my first four-year guys who came in when I came here so they rode the system, they’ve gotten it.
“For me, I’ve done a lot of coaching, I told these guys that I am on that journey as well. This is my first conference championship. I could not be more proud of them. The work, everything that we’ve put in, it paid off today. It’s just an amazing journey, it’s an amazing ride.”
Wagener leads the state in scoring with 109 points on 47 goals and 15 assists, Dwyer has 40 points on 12 goals and 16 assists, and the duo led Maumee to its second league championship ever and its first league boys soccer championship since winning a Northern Lakes League title in 1991.
Reed said there was one major goal before Tuesday’s showdown, and that was to shut down the Panthers’ leading scorers.
“Stop Blake and Austin,” Reed said. “They are awesome. Blake played club with us, so I knew he was dangerous. You look at his points, it’s kind of hard to stop him.”
Maumee scored two goals in each half, including the first off a penalty kick by Wagener, and Wagener assisted when Dwyer scored Maumee’s second first half goal.
In the second half, Dwyer scored on a 30-yard shot, assisted by junior midfielder Bradyn Saneholtz, putting the Panthers up 3-0 with 29:24 remaining.
After a Lake injury stopped the clock, Wagener took an indirect kick and beat the Lake defense, scoring with 16:04 remaining.
Lake was shut out despite an offense led by junior forward Travis Merrill (21 points, 19 assists), junior defender Greyson Reed (13 goals, seven assists), senior forward Jackson Gladieux (eight goals, five assists), and senior defender Auggie Warton (eight goals, four assists).
Maumee outshot Lake 10-2 in shots on net, including 5-1 in each half, and the Panthers had a total of 14 second half shots to Lake’s three. Lake finishes the regular season 11-4-1 and NBC runners-up at 4-1-1.
Coach Reed found a silver lining— playing Maumee in the final regular season game may help his team in the upcoming tournament. Plus, he lauded the NBC for moving to a single round robin season.
“Only playing everybody once this year gave us an opportunity to play tougher competition in the non-conference games,” Reed said.
“We had a big win against Maumee Valley (4-3 on September 28), so they are capable. Hopefully we can get healthy. We have a week to prepare and we’ll see what happens.”
Lake begins Division III tournament play on Saturday, October 21 by hosting the winner of Toledo Christian and Emmanuel Christian. Kickoff is scheduled for noon.
Also scoring for Lake this year is Preston Snyder (four goals, nine assists), Jonathan Specht (five goals, six assists), Micah Balsmayer (three goals, five assists), and Gael Rios (three goals, three assists).
Ethan Bradfield has one goal and two assists, Brady Hayward has one goal and one assist, and Avery Alder, Evan Barta, Figgy Garcia, and Kolton Nowicki have scored one goal apiece.
Mitchell Maguire has 56 saves in goal and Anthony Buschmann has six saves, and the Flyers’ defense has recorded six shutouts.
