COLUMBUS — Wyoming won the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division IV boys soccer state championship on Sunday at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field, defeating Worthington Christian 3-1 in a penalty-kick shootout after 80 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime ended 1-1 — and, for the second time this week, junior goalkeeper Teddy Peterson made the season’s biggest saves. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Peterson saved two penalty kicks in the shootout, including the last Warriors kick in the fourth round to end it.
Wyoming was perfect from the spot: seniors Miles Steininger, Nolan Franco and Brayden Strong converted in order, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. After both teams made their first kick, Peterson saved Worthington Christian’s second attempt and the Warriors’ third shooter missed well over the crossbar.
The title is Wyoming’s second, and its first since 2021, the Enquirer reported. The Cowboys finish 17-4-3. Worthington Christian, last year’s Division IV champion, finishes 18-3-3 as runner-up for the third time in four seasons. It was the 19th boys soccer state final ever decided by a shootout.
The goals in open play both came in the second half. Junior Liam Hagerman put Wyoming ahead 1-0 six minutes after the break, hitting a right-footed grounder just inside the near post for his seventh goal of the season, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. With 21 minutes left, Worthington Christian’s Colton Hoskinson volleyed in a diagonal pass near the far post to tie it 1-1.
Peterson’s week is the story of Wyoming’s run. The Enquirer’s account noted that the first-year starter also made the final save in the state semifinal, ending that game after Hagerman converted to start the seventh round of that shootout — and that Peterson finished the season with 11.5 shutouts.
The final was as even as the scoreline suggests. Wyoming finished with 16 shots, four on goal, and Worthington Christian 14 shots, five on goal, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer — and late in the first half, the Warriors put three shots on the Wyoming goal in one wild sequence, with a header blocked, a follow-up clipping the crossbar and a third saved by Peterson.
What happens next is a celebration back home in Wyoming, a Cincinnati suburb, for a senior class — Will Haid, Ethan Nordstrom, Brayden Strong, Nolan Franco, Caleb Kahn, Miles Steininger, Everett Johnson, Carter Snyder and their classmates, per the Cincinnati Enquirer — that closes its career as state champions.
Photo: InvadingInvader, CC BY-SA