This fall sports season has been like no other at Ottawa Hills High School.
As a Division III school for most sports, Division VI for football, the Green Bears' four boys and five girls teams have produced winning seasons, conference championships, and some teams and athletes that have been rated among Ohio's best.
Ottawa Hills has just 192 boys and 154 girls in grades 9 to 12, and has found success in football, cross country, soccer, and golf on the boys' side, and in soccer, cross country, tennis, volleyball, and field hockey for the girls.
“It's been exciting all fall at Ottawa Hills with the support of the community and our student body,” football coach Chris Hardman said. “I don't know that I've ever seen anything like it.”
Participation numbers, solid coaching, dedication, and hard work are the key elements that have led to the widespread success.
There have been 31 boys participating in football, 33 in cross country, 32 in soccer, and 15 in golf this fall, plus 15 girls in soccer, 17 in tennis, 18 in cross country, 20 in volleyball, and 16 in field hockey.
In addition, there are 12 girls involved on the school's dance team, and a marching band that had just 10 members a decade ago now has 50 performing under director Michael Leeds.
Although there is some crossover of students participation in more then one of these extracurricular activities in the fall, 259 of these spots are filled from among a total school enrollment of 352.
FOOTBALL
With its 24-20 victory over Edon on Oct. 21, the Ottawa Hills football team won its first Toledo Area Athletic Conference championship since 2017 and its first outright title since 2005.
Led by seniors Sam McCaffery, A.J. George, and Cole Anderson, juniors Jack Perozek, Jack Vicente, and Luke Gnepper, and sophomore quarterback Chase Miller, the Green Bears went 4-0 in TAAC play, with the lone regular-season loss being a 37-23 nonleague setback at Margaretta. Senior punter/kicker Emilio Duran and freshman running back Rocco Pillarelli have also made big contributions.
“The league championship was important,” Hardman said, “and the week-by-week success was important, and our kids embraced all of that.”
BOYS CROSS COUNTRY
Under coach Tyler Fairchild, who oversees the boys and girls programs, the Green Bears have risen to the top-ranked Division III boys team in Ohio.
The top three runners have been Riley Nixon (best time 15:49.9), Thomas Franklin (15:58.7), and Michael Kelley (16:42.19). They were joined in the top seven spots in the Oct. 15 TAAC championship meet by teammates Sage Egan, Carson Mackey, Maxwell Chandar-Kouba, and Joe Mayer-Heckathorn.
In the Oct. 22 D-III district meet, the Green Bears placed their five scoring runners in the top 10 spots to win easily with 30 points to 79 to runner-up Fairview.
Ottawa Hills followed that victory with a first-place finish in Saturday's regional meet in Tiffin, posting 99 points.
“It's nice, and the rankings are great, but at the same time we just have some really level-headed kids that work their butts off,” Fairchild said.
BOYS SOCCER
The Green Bears closed the regular season with a 12-4-1 overall record, a first-place 3-0 in the TAAC, and ranked No. 6 in the final D-III state poll. The Bears outscored foes 55-16 in the regular season, and the only losses came against two D-I teams from the NLL (Anthony Wayne and Northview), 2021 D-II state semifinalist Lexington, and to Youngstown Mooney, the No. 2-ranked D-III team. They tied D-I Perrysburg.
Leading the way offensively have been sophomore midfielder Alex Duran (22 goals, 15 assists), and senior midfielders Adam Ayad (11 G, 17 A), Carson Mackey (6 G, 8 A), and Elijah Shetterly (7 G, 9 A). The top defender has been junior Evan West, and junior first-year starting goalkeeper Julian Jaume has made 102 saves.
“I think a lot of it is the fact that we allow our athletes to play multiple sports in the same season,” said second-year head coach Brian Hanudel, who has was previously an assistant for two years. “That's a big key component. I've got a handful of players that also run cross country and are in the band. And, some kids that are doing football and soccer.
“The school's flexibility, and the coaches' flexibility to allow that, has really helped each individual sport succeed.”
Ottawa Hills won the Division III district title Saturday, defeating Evergreen 5-0.
BOYS GOLF
Under fifth-year coach Tricia Fojtik, the Green Bears made their second straight trip to the state golf tournament, this time up a division from D-III to D-II. That jump didn't slow the squad, which placed sixth at the two-day tournament (Oct. 14-15) at Ohio State University's Scarlet Course.
Led by junior Will Swigart, who shot 84-78–162, the Bears shot a 689. Also scoring were seniors Eddie Griffin (85-89–174), Chuck Merrill (88-88–176), and Anthony Adduci (86-91–177). Anthony Packo IV was the other OH competitor.
On the season Swigart carried an 18-hole average of 77, and Griffin an 80 to lead the team.
“Our golf team is very lucky, because all the golfers we have now are one-sport athletes, and they dedicated their lives to playing golf this year,” Fojtik said. “They were really successful. The boys had a really good bond, and they clicked as a team. I think that helped too.”
GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY
The Green Bear girls cross country team has also made significant strides under Fairchild.
They easily won the TAAC team championship with 19 points, placing their top five scoring runners in the top eight spots, led by individual TAAC champion JoAnna Kelley, who ran a time of 19:32 at the Maumee Valley course on Oct. 15
Elanora Smith placed second in 19:42, and Audrey Nixon was third at 20:04), and rounding out the scoring at the TAAC meet were Anna Ellingson (seventh), and Erin Wilmore (eighth).
At the Oct. 22 D-III district meet, Ottawa Hills posted 44 points for first place in the team standings led by third and fourth-place individual finishes from Kelley (19:30.47) and Smith (19:38.13), respectively.
At the regional meet Saturday in Tiffin, the Green Bear girls placed fifth in the team standings (201 points) and qualified for the state meet for the first time in program history.
GIRLS SOCCER
Under seventh-year head coach Jessica Kozy, the Green Bears turned in their first undefeated regular season at 13-0-3, with the three ties coming against Archbold, Maumee, and Van Buren. They won their sixth straight TAAC title with a 6-0 mark, and have outscored opponents 45-9 .
Third-seeded Ottawa Hills, which then opened D-III tournament play with a 5-2 win over Liberty Center on Oct. 20, topped No. 6 seed Swanton 5-0 in a district semifinal Tuesday at Genoa. The Green Bears then fell 4-0 to No. 4 seed Woodmore in Saturday’s district final.
The Bears were led in scoring by forward Annika Padhye (12 goals, 4 assists), center-midfielder Erin Wilmore (9 G, 10 A), forward Sophia Clausen (9 G, 1 A), and CMF Ella Berenzweig (4 G, 7 A). The top two defenders have been Sadie Dale and Abby Speakman, and goalkeeper Annie Bazzoli recorded 100 saves.
Kozy believes there is a common thread at Ottawa Hills that has fostered the overall success of the school's fall sports teams.
“The kids are just used to — in the classroom and in all aspects of life — being pushed and trying to be the best that they can possible be,” Kozy said. “Mediocrity to people in Ottawa Hills is not ideal, so they put in the work. There's a handful of kids in every sport that really put in the work in the offseason, and in the weight room, and they kind of lead by example for the other kids who are maybe not as all-in for sports.”
GIRLS TENNIS
Jeff Harst has coached a total of 25 tennis seasons at Ottawa Hills, including the girls team in the fall and the boys in the spring. In that time, no girls singles player has excelled like current junior Catherine Rhegness, who last weekend made her third trip to the Division II state singles tournament in Mason, Ohio.
After winning one match in the 16-player state bracket as a freshman in 2020, and dropping her first-round match at state last year, Rhegness placed fourth at state last Saturday.
She entered the state competition with a 23-0 season record in which she lost only six games (equivalent to one set) in those 23 matches.
At state, Rhegness defeated Blake Rothchild of Pepper Pike Orange, 7-6, 6-1, in the first round, and topped Caroline Boyle of Hamilton Badin, 6-3, 6-1, in the quarterfinals last Friday.
In Saturday's semifinal match, Rhegness lost to eventual state champion Amiya Bowles of Bexley, 6-0, 6-1, and then fell 6-4, 6-4 to Ellie Brotherton of Shaker Heights Laurel in the consolation match to close her season at 25-2.
As a team this season, Ottawa Hills posted a 16-4 match record playing an independent schedule. The regular lineup included Rhegness at No. 1 singles, Bryn Tangeman at No. 2 singles, Nora Pixler at No. 3 singles, and the teams of Bre Rotterdam and Eleise Ansberg at first doubles, and Hannah Chernow and Ella Shetterly at second doubles.
Rhegness was the third OH girl to reach a state singles tournament under Harst, who has also guided several doubles teams to state during his tenure.
“The success at Ottawa Hills has been huge,” Harst said. “As a school, it's just one of those years where everything seems to be successful. Overall, it's just been an amazing season for us.”
VOLLEYBALL
Coach Heather Holly's team managed to knock off perennial TAAC power Toledo Christian 3-1 in the first of two conference matches on Sept. 15, but the Green Bears (11-8 overall, 6-2 TAAC) had previously lost 3-2 at Northwood on Sept. 1, and needed to beat TC at home on Oct. 4 to claim the conference crown and end the Eagles' run of 13 straight titles.
Ottawa Hills fell 3-1, however, and TC extended it run of championships.
Three of OH's nonleague losses came against larger schools — D-I Southview and Clay, and D-II Central Catholic.
FIELD HOCKEY
Under coach Summer Vanni, Hardman's daughter and a former standout athlete at Ottawa Hills, the Green Bears field hockey team also improved on a .500 finish from 2021 to a 10-7-1 this season.
The OH field hockey program has historically been one of Ohio's best, advancing to the state final four 11 times, most recently in 2003. The 1992, 1993, and 1998 Green Bears were state champions, and the 2003 team was the state runner-up.
First Published October 29, 2022, 6:55 p.m.
