Football: Defense drives Ottawa-Glandorf’s Titanic turnaround

Sports High School Sports Top Stories Facebook X Pinterest WhatsApp OTTAWA — People love to talk about Ottawa-Glandorf’s “storybook turnaround this season,” going from 0-10 to 10-0 in the regular season. The players know it took a lot more than a fairy godmother and a little magic dust to get there. “We definitely busted our butts in the weight room all summer,” said Oscar Salsburey, a running back and linebacker for the Titans, said after finishing the regular season unbeaten with a win at Shawnee, marking O-G’s first unbeaten regular season since 2012. “We just hated going 0-10. We bounced back. … Our record definitely motivated us to keep going.” O-G (11-0), fresh off a 28-14 win against Buckeye last week, now faces fourth-seeded Clear Fork (9-2) in the Division IV, Region 14 semifinals Friday at Titan Stadium. People wondering about their turnaround can turn to a tried-and-true football adage: Defense wins championships. Nowhere is that more obvious than in the team’s turnover margin. In the regular season, O-G was plus-18 on turnover margin, easily the best in the Western Buckeye League. That included the defense nabbing 14 interceptions and diving atop seven fumbles. In comparison, last year in the winless season, O-G’s turnover margin was zero, second-to-last in the league. “The turnovers, it just puts the opponent down on themselves, and then we’re able to come out with the offense and shove it down their throats,” Salsburey said. A big part of that was Jordan Schumaker, a 6-foot-2, 173-pound defensive back selected as the WBL’s defensive skill co-player of the year alongside Wapakoneta’s Daron Houser. Schumaker led the league with six regular-season interceptions. “He’s phenomenal,” said first-year O-G coach Ben Kaufman, the WBL coach of the year. “He’s one of the best players in the state, plain and simple.” Against Shawnee, Schumaker had two interceptions and a fumble recovery as the Titans clinched their sixth league championship and fourth outright title. “If I’m wishing, I definitely like forcing the fumble and recovering it,” Schumaker said. “The interceptions are pretty nice too.” The Titans finished the regular season with the WBL’s best rushing defense (96.9 yards per game) and total defense (241.2 yards per game) and second-best passing defense (144.3 yards per game) and scoring defense (16.6 points per game). That led to some impressive regular-season statistics, including second-team all-WBL linebacker Ayden Klausing’s 7.8 tackles per game and second-team linebacker Carson Yaeger’s four interceptions and two fumble recoveries. It also meant all-WBL honors on defense for seniors Gage Bellman (first team, defensive back), Riley Trombley (first team, linebacker), Cayden Warnecke (first team, defensive line), Zach Horstman (second team, defensive line) and Hudson Gaymire (second team, defensive line). “This season is very sweet because they earned this,” Kaufman said. “They worked their tails off. It’s so rewarding because of how hard the players worked and the other coaches worked. They just deserve every moment of this.” The Titans aren’t ready to rest on their accomplishments, though. Both Salsburey and Schumaker said their goal was a trip to state now that playoffs are underway. “Obviously the goal is to go to state,” Schumaker said. Salsburey added, “It probably is for every team, but I guess it really didn’t seem possible that we could reach that until about week two or three. We’re not done yet.” Reach David Trinko at 567-242-0467 or on Twitter/X @Lima_Trinko . Featured Local Savings