Saturday, November 7th, 2020
Feathers in their caps
Cardinals rally to beat Flyers for first regional championship
By Randy Bruns
Photo by Dan Melograna/The Daily Standard
New Bremen's Hunter Williams holds up the regional championship trophy after the Cardinals defeated Marion Local 24-17 on Friday night at Booster Stadium in Maria Stein. The Cardinals will play Lima Central Catholic in the state semifinal next Friday at a site to be announced this weekend.
MARIA STEIN - This win was special for New Bremen in many more ways than one.
The Cardinals upended the defending Division VII state champion Marion Local Flyers with a furious fourth-quarter rally and advanced to the state semifinals for the first time in school history after a 24-17 victory Friday night at Booster Stadium.
New Bremen, now 8-2, moves on to face the red-hot Lima Central Catholic Thunderbirds, who annihilated Hopewell-Loudon 62-20. The Ohio High School Athletic Association will announce the game's location Sunday.
The Cardinals couldn't quite crack the Flyers in the teams' regular season tilt, as they fell 21-13 despite six Flyer turnovers. This time around the Cardinals took advantage of three huge special teams plays to turn the tide and steal the win despite being outgained by nearly 100 yards.
The loss for Marion, which finished the year at 9-1, marks the end of a nine-year streak of playing for a state championship, including seven victories.
"We were just able to find a way," said a jubilant New Bremen coach Chris Schmidt. "In the regional finals against Marion you just have to find a way. We had some big plays on special teams with kids stepping up. It's just an awesome victory."
The first half started with a bang for the hosts. Quarterback Peyton Otte found Drew Seitz on a short third-down pass and the sophomore tailback did the rest by breaking several tackles en route to a 77-yard touchdown.
The Cardinal defense pinned the Flyers back on their next possession and took advantage of some prime field position. Mitchell Hays found Dan Homan for 27 yards on the first play of the drive, and the senior signal caller ran five more times before the Flyers defense stiffened. Owen Gabel came on to boot a 27-yard field goal to put his team on the board.
Marion answered with a field goal of its own late in the half, but New Bremen dialed up its first big special teams play on the ensuing kickoff. Wyatt Dicke caught the kick at his own 8-yard line and broke containment before getting stopped at the Marion 45. Hays was once again instrumental as he hit Zach Bertke for a 15-yard gain before calling his own number twice and weaving through the middle of the defense for an 11-yard touchdown run that knotted the score at 10.
The Flyers caught a key break on the Cardinals' first possession of the second half when they pounced on a fumble near midfield. It took just six running plays for the hosts to cash in when Seitz crashed in from five yards out to make the score 17-10.
Marion had a chance to grab a two-score lead early in the fourth but New Bremen came up special again when it blocked a field-goal attempt. Though the visitors didn't capitalize right away, they pinned the hosts deep in their own territory and later grabbed the momentum with an interception near midfield.
This time, the momentum was all on the Cardinals' side, and they never let it go. Hays engineered a seven-play drive and avoided disaster when an interception was overturned by a personal foul call on the Flyers. Bertke powered in from 2 yards out to tie the score again with just over three minutes remaining.
The biggest special teams effort of the night for the Cardinals followed quickly and spelled doom for the Flyers. Homan, who blocked two punts against St. Henry in their playoff matchup two weeks ago, struck again. The senior put a move on and easily swatted Dylan Fleck's punt, which bounced right to Homan, who took it to pay dirt from 10 yards out.
"That was one of the things we talked about this week," said Schmidt. "We said we've got to make special teams special. We felt we had to win there because we knew it would be tough to put points on the board. What a play by Dan Homan. He finds a way to get it done and I'm just so happy and proud for him."
The Flyers had one more shot to tie, but a short run and three straight incompletions sealed the deal on a wild and unpredictable game.
"They played extremely well and made plays," Marion coach Tim Goodwin said. "Two of the plays on special teams were the difference. That was 14 points right there.
"With all the uncertainty this year the kids have had a great attitude," Goodwin continued. "There were several times there when it didn't look like we'd even get the chance to play, especially when you see the Big Ten going down. We had a great year, and tonight we played that was very similar to us that made some big plays."
Photo by Dan Melograna/The Daily Standard
Marion Local's Drew Seitz (28) tries to break free from New Bremen's David Homan during Friday's regional final at Booster Stadium.
Photo by Dan Melograna/The Daily Standard
Marion Local's Peyton Otte goes around a New Bremen defender for yardage during Friday's game in Maria Stein.
Photo by Dan Melograna/The Daily Standard
New Bremen's Mitchell Hays (2) looks for running room during Friday's regional final at Booster Stadium.
Photo by Dan Melograna/The Daily Standard
Marion Local's Charlie Huelsman (14) deflects a pass intended for New Bremen's Dan Homan.
Photo by Dan Melograna/The Daily Standard
New Bremen's Kyle Tenkman grabs a pass during Friday's game against Marion Local.
