Flyers edge Rockets

ANNA - Marion Local Head Football Coach Tim Goodwin wasn't a happy camper in the first half on Friday in Anna.

"I wasn't smiling, was I?" Goodwin said. "Because we just gave them 14 points right off the bat."

He was smiling by the end of it, though.

Marion had a disastrous start with four turnovers (three fumbles, one interception) in the first half. Yet, the Flyers were still right with the Rockets by halftime at 7-apiece. Anna scored a touchdown to start the second half, but Marion scored the final 10 points to stun one of the Midwest Athletic Conference favorites, 17-14, at Booster Field.

Grant Meier scored two touchdowns for Marion (4-1, 3-0 MAC) and Alex Klosterman kicked the winning field goal with 6:12 left in the contest. Anna (4-1, 2-1 MAC) followed Marion's four-turnover half with three of its own in the second.

"They made plays here and there, and we didn't execute as well as we needed to," Anna coach Nick Marino said. "They did some really good stuff against us. We kind of adjusted to it, but we didn't make enough plays when we needed to. That's on me as a head coach. We've got to get things fixed. We can't lose that type of ballgame."

On the game's opening drive, Anna's Will Luthman knocked the ball out of Peyton Otte's hands on a run play and Ben Kovacs jumped on it the end zone. An extra point by Zach Ambos made it 7-0 Rockets with 11:09 remaining.

The Flyers followed with a long drive which moved inside the Rockets' five-yard line as Kyle Muhlenkamp and Charles Huelsman connected on three pass plays for 34 yards. The fumble bug bit Marion again, however, as Dylan Heitkamp coughed it up and Anna recovered yards shy of the end zone.

A lightning delay followed.

When the Flyers got back the ball after the delay, Muhlenkamp completed a 35-yard pass to Otte. They had a key fourth-and-short picku and Meier later punched in for a two-yard touchdown with 9:16 left in the half.

Anna took its next drive on Marion's side of the field, but the Flyer defense stuffed Riley Huelskamp on a fourth-and-two.

Marion had two more series move into Anna territory in the half. They both ended with turnovers, however. Muhlenkamp fumbled it away after a 15-yard scramble on a third-and-long, and he was picked off the next time after being hit on a pass attempt.

The Flyers held a 225-139 advantage in total yardage at halftime.

"At halftime we told the guys 'Hey, we have four turnovers against a really good team and it's 7-all,' " Goodwin said. "If we can clean this crap up, we're going to be a good team."

The yardage ended up 405-327 in Marion's favor.

Anna rode Huelskamp down the field on the second half's opening drive. But when Bart Bixler passed, he was intercepted by Otte.

Huelskamp did all the heavy lifting by himself the next time Anna took over.

He took a screen pass 20 yards to start it, broke off a 53-yard run and then gave Anna back the lead with a seven-yard scoring run.

A case of the fumbles soon hit Anna, though.

After Klosterman had a field goal attempt blocked, Huelskamp coughed it up to the Flyers while Anna was in its own territory. On the next play, Muhlenkamp hit Huelsman with a beauty of a ball for a 20-yard gain. It set up Meier's second TD of the game, a three-yard run. Klosterman's extra point tied it up with 10:46 left in the game.

Anna fumbled the rock once more after a jarring hit by Marion's defense, with Nathan Ungruhn securing the recovery. Klosterman's 21-yard field goal supplied the game-winning points for Marion with 6:12 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Flyer defense came up with one last stop, too,

Anna faced a fourth-and-two from its own 45 with just over four minutes to play when Bixler called his own number and was brought down short of the line to gain by Ungruhn.

"We made plays," Goodwin said. "The quarterback played well. Charlie caught some real big balls there in the second half. (Anna) is a load offensively. For our defense to hold them to one score, that's great. We got two big turnovers in that second half, which really changed field position. And Brandon (Fleck) had a (56-yard) punt that helped flip the field, too.

"Games like this … this is why our league's so good in the playoffs," he added. "In games like this, you're just going at it for 48 minutes, having to defend everything at the end. Hopefully we can just learn from this. It's a lot more fun learning from a win than it is from a loss. Hopefully some of our kids get some confidence now."

Muhlenkamp threw for 173 yards. Huelsman had nine catches for 116 yards.

Huelskamp led Anna with 121 yards rushing.

Marion Local extended its winning streak to 12 straight against Anna in a matchup of last year's MAC co-champs.