Second-half surge

WAPAKONETA - Limiting New Bremen to less than 50 yards of total offense in the second half, Marion Local was able to pull away from the Cardinals for a 27-0 victory and a Division VII, Region 28 title Saturday night at Wapakoneta's Harmon Field.

The Flyers (11-2) advance to the state semifinals for the ninth consecutive year and will face Patrick Henry (10-3) on Saturday at Lima Spartan Stadium. Harvest Prep (12-1) and Lucas (11-2) will meet in the other D-VII semifinal.

For the most part, New Bremen controlled the first half Saturday night, but the only scoring came on a 47-yard touchdown pass from Marion Local quarterback Kyle Muhlenkamp to Charlie Huelsman on the Flyers' first drive of the game.

After the touchdown pass, Marion managed just seven more yards of total offense in the first half.

"New Bremen came out and played very well. They were very physical and they controlled the first half," Marion Local coach Tim Goodwin said. "We were pretty frustrated offensively, but that happens."

New Bremen had some success moving the ball, but had nothing to show for it. Starting on their own 10 yard line late in the first quarter, the Cardinals put together a 14-play, 8 1/2-minute drive that came up empty when Owen Gabel missed a 34-yard field goal.

New Bremen ran 31 plays from scrimmage in the first half compared to 16 for Marion Local, but trailed 7-0 at the break.

"We had a couple opportunities in the first half and it would have been nice to get points on the board," New Bremen coach Chris Schmidt said. "But credit to Marion. They are a good ball club, and it's always hard to get points on them."

Any momentum New Bremen built up in the first half evaporated quickly. The Flyers took the second half kickoff and marched 68 yards in 11 plays. Muhlenkamp capped the drive with a 20-yard touchdown run at the 7:31 mark of the third quarter.

New Bremen went three-and-out on its first possession, and then failed to capitalize on a fumble recovery, going three-and-out again. The Flyers were able to partially block New Bremen's second punt of the half.

And one play later, Muhlenkamp executed a nifty ball fake on a play-option and tossed a 33-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Peyton Otte. Alex Klosterman added his third PAT kick of the game, and with 1:22 left in the third quarter, the Flyers suddenly had a 21-0 lead.

"We had some confidence going in at halftime," Schmidt said. "We weren't able to get any points on the board, but we felt like, 'Hey, we're right there.' We just need to pop a play or two offensively and continue to play good defense. But certainly the first drive, where they went down and scored, hurt because we just couldn't quite get the momentum back."

Goodwin said scoring on opening possession of the second half helped take some pressure off his squad.

"We go up two scores and it's like the pressure just comes off your chest, where you know it's no longer one slip here and it's a tie ball game," he said. "And then we get the blocked punt. That was a big momentum changer as well."

Huelsman picked off a Mitchell Hays pass and returned it to the New Bremen 26-yard line to start the fourth quarter.

Six plays later, Dylan Heitkamp scored from three yards out to cap the scoring.

The Cardinals close out the season at 9-4, and for a program that was on the verge of extinction less than 10 years ago, New Bremen has seen a lot of progress in a short time.

"The reason we didn't play (Marion Local) this year in the regular season was because when we rotated the schedule the last time, they were at the top and we were dead last in the league," Schmidt said. "And now here we are playing them in the regional final. I can't be more proud of the kids and the work they put in."

The Flyers add some more regional hardware to the trophy case thanks to what Goodwin considers a blue-collar-type work ethic.

"It seems like at times nothing comes easy to this team, we don't have a lot of explosive-type kids," he said. "We don't get a lot of big plays, but we do have a bunch of guys that will just keep playing no matter what. And that's the key to this team."