Saturday, November 1st, 2014
Flyers wrap up MAC with win
By Dave Stilwell
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Marion Local running back Jacy Goettemoeller topped the 1,000-yard mark in the Flyers' 50-0 win over Delphos St. John's.
MARIA STEIN - Marion Local put an exclamation mark on its second consecutive undefeated regular season with a 50-0 victory over Delphos St. John's in the midst of a Halloween blizzard Friday night at Booster Field.
The Flyers also wrapped up their second straight outright Midwest Athletic Conference title, no small feat for the three-time defending State Champs.
"This is very special and we've talked about that," Marion Local Coach Tim Goodwin said. "We've got more State Championships (seven) than MAC (outright) titles (six). So I told the kids to enjoy this. It doesn't happen all that often."
The weather conditions were less than ideal. A horizontal rain turned into a horizontal snow as a strong wind blew directly out of the north and across Booster Field.
The two teams combined for 15 fumbles. The Blue Jays lost four and the Flyers two. The last two Delphos punts - into the wind - in the second quarter went for 10 and six yards respectively.
Unofficially, the Blue Jays finished with negative one yard of total offense. The only Delphos first down came in the first half when the Flyers jumped offsides on third down.
"We ran into a better football team tonight," St. John's coach Todd Schulte said. "And it doesn't help when you put the ball on the ground as much as we did, especially when you are playing the defending Division VII State Champs."
Hunter Wilker scored on end-around runs of 11 and 10 yards on Marion Local's first two possessions for a 14-0 first quarter lead.
With the Flyers having already clinched the first seed for the Division VII Regional playoffs that start next Saturday, Goodwin didn't want to waste any time getting his starters out of the game.
"With the conditions the way they were, we wanted to score 30 points as quickly as possible," he said. "We wanted the clock running and to get our guys out of the game."
Jacy Goettemoeller scored on an 8-yard run and a two-point conversion pass from Peyton Kramer to Ryan Bruns gave the Flyers a 22-0 lead with 8:36 left in the first half.
Just over three minutes later, Goettemoeller scored his second touchdown, this time from 24 yards out. Kramer booted this PAT for a 29-0 lead.
The Flyers had one more chance to get to the break with a 30-point spread in the first half, but Kramer's 30-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left as time expired.
Marion Local did get the continuously running clock when quarterback Dustin Rethman connected with Wilker from 13 yards out early in the third quarter. Kramer's PAT kick gave the Flyers a 36-0 lead.
Cole Unrast blocked a Blue Jay punt for a safety at the end of the third quarter.
Nate Moeller and Jack Homan tacked on fourth quarter touchdowns runs of 36 and 1-yard respectively to round out the scoring.
Goettemoeller, the Flyers' all-time leading rusher, went over 1,000 yards on the season as he carried the ball 16 times for 129 yards.
Moeller finished with 60 yards rushing while Rethman was 4-of-13 passing for 66 yards and a touchdown.
Marion Local enters the playoffs on the heels of a 32-game winning streak stretching back to the 2012 state championship season.
And Goodwin said he is not expecting his Flyers to take anything for granted.
"We've got a strong coaching staff everywhere that is not going to let these kids loaf," he said. "And I'm counting on the seniors to lead the way. This is their year and they are going to be the voice in the locker room."
Unofficially, the Flyers (10-0) will host Triad (6-4) in the first round of the Division VII, Region 26 playoffs Saturday at 7 p.m.
The Blue Jays finish the regular season at 4-6 overall and 2-6 in the MAC. Even with the losing record, Delphos St. John's appears to have nailed down the eighth and final spot in the Division VII, Region 24 playoffs.
Only six teams finished the season with a winning record in Region 24. Unofficially, Delphos St. John's will travel to top-seeded Arlington (9-1) next Saturday.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association will announce the official playoff pairings Sunday afternoon.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Marion Local's Ryan Thobe, 27, tries to strip the ball away from a St. John's ballcarrier during Friday's game at Maria Stein. The Flyers wrapped up a 10-0 regular season with a 50-0 win.
