McKibben's field goal lifts Cavs past Flyers

COLDWATER - A record crowd traveled to Cavalier Stadium on Friday night to watch defending state champions Marion Local and Coldwater clash.

It took a near record-long kick by Coldwater's Kyle McKibben to decide the outcome.

McKibben's 44-yard field goal with one second left lifted the Cavaliers past the Flyers, 17-14, in front of an estimated 6,700 on hand to witness a Midwest Athletic Conference game for the ages.

"It's special, especially with the way it ended," Coldwater coach Chip Otten said. "It's exciting. Our seniors are a good group of guys. That was a battle. I think everybody got their monies' worth tonight."   

Especially the 50-50 winner, who walked away with a prize of $11,437.

Down 14-6 with the game clock under three minutes, Marion Local's defense forced a Coldwater three-and-out and punt. Kyle Homan returned the Cavalier punt from Marion's own 45 to the Coldwater 27 with 2:15 remaining. Quarterback Cole Griesdorn dove on a teammate's fumble on a fourth-and-short to keep the chains moving and then found Matt Kahlig for a three-yard touchdown with 32.8 left. Griesdorn ran in for a two-point conversion to tie the game at 14-all.

When overtime appeared inevitable, Chris (Petey) Post had other plans. On the ensuing kickoff, Post followed an escort down the sideline and brought the ball near midfield. It took three straight completions by quarterback Jack Hemmelgarn - a nine-yard strike to Kraig Schoenherr and two straight for 21 yards to Aaron Harlamert - to set up McKibben's game-winner.

"I knew when we were driving it was going to come down to a kick," said McKibben, whose previous long was 19 yards. "Once I got there, I was obviously nervous. I took a deep breath, relaxed and then just pictured the ball going through."

McKibben's boot was four yards shy of the Coldwater record of 48, set by Troy Otten in 2011.

"Right off the bat, I saw it and I just lit up and ran to all my teammates, because everybody played great tonight and it was just a great feeling," McKibben said.

"I'm proud of how we played - I really am," Marion Local coach Tim Goodwin said. "I'm disappointed that we didn't get the opportunity to go to overtime because I just liked how the game was going. I liked what we were doing with our running game ... but (they had) two big pass plays. The biggest difference was special teams. They're great on special teams."

That 44-yard kick prevented the Flyers from extending their winning streak to 44 games. The last time Marion Local lost a game was against Coldwater in 2012.

"We had some great players and we still do," said Goodwin reflecting on the streak. "We've got some good ones coming up. Like I told the team, we can't let Coldwater beat us twice. We've got to lick our wounds tonight and tomorrow, and then we've got a pretty good Fort Recovery team next week."

Coldwater took a 7-0 lead into halftime courtesy of a 61-yard strike from Hemmelgarn to Neal Muhlenkamp with 6:04 left in the first quarter.

The Flyers came out of half with a 12-play, 68-yard drive, kept alive by Aaron Nietfeld's leaping first-down run on a fourth-and-short. Griesdorn's eight-yard run finished off the drive, but a high snap on the point-after attempt kept Coldwater in front 7-6.

Marion Local became the first team to score on the Cavaliers in the first three quarters of any game this season.

The Cavaliers, much like they did on the final series, quickly pushed the ball down the field when retook possession. On the first play, Hemmelgarn dumped a short pass to McKibben, who sprinted down the field 44 yards to the Marion 32. On the very next snap, Hemmelgarn lofted a pass towards the end zone to a leaping Harlamert who secured it for a 32-yard TD with 2:36 to play in the third.

"We scored to make it 7-6 and then it took them two plays to score," Goodwin said. "That was tough. But we hung in there and found a way to put it in

Hemmelgarn finished 11-of-17 with 193 yards and the two scores. Harlamert was the leading receiver with five catches for 66 yards and Post had 15 touches for 89 yards rushing for the Cavaliers, who improved to 7-0 and 5-0 in MAC play.

Nietfeld had 112 yards on 22 carries for the Flyers, who dropped to 6-1 and 4-1 in league play.

Even though one of the state's longest winning streaks ended, Goodwin believes best is yet to come for his Flyers, the top-ranked team in the latest Division VI state poll.

"I'd like to think so," he said. "We graduated some great, great players off of last year's team. We've been in the process of just feeling our way through. I think we have some things (to build on) after today where we can say, you know what 'We did this against a pretty darn good team,' and we might be able to do it against some other teams now."

Big accomplishments are likely ahead for Division V's top-ranked Cavaliers, too.

"We have a shot at winning the league title now," Otten said. "We haven't done that for three years. That's exciting for our guys, but we've got to win three more. We're at least in a position to do that."