The Daily Standard
Sports Preview
After putting 578 miles and roughly 11 hours on the buses for round trips in the opening two weeks of the football season, Marion Local will play on the home field this week.
The miles and hours to Linton-Stockton in Indiana and to Franklin did not go for naught as the Flyers return to Booster Stadium at 2-0 and extended the nation's longest active winning streak to 50 straight games by a combined margin of 94-6.
The home opener is also the opener for the Midwest Athletic Conference, and it will be a Social Gathering - with Marion boosters hosting its annual Flyer Gate - with State Route 119 rival St. Henry making the short trek to Maria Stein.
The Redskins are 1-1 after bouncing back from a tough Week One loss at St. Marys to pick up a 42-14 win over Archbold, which gave former St. Henry player Josh Werling his first win as head coach.
To describe the Marion Local offense over the first two weeks, the words "Pick your poison" resonates. Four players have two or more touchdowns on the season with three players adding a touchdown.
Kyle Knouff has passed for four touchdowns as Marion Local extended its winning streak to 50 straight with a 2-0 start to the season.
In the opener at Linton-Stockton, quarterback Justin Knouff threw for three touchdown passes - and was 9-of-10 for 167 yards - for the first three scores of the game as Marion led 35-0 at halftime and picked up the 45-6 win over the Miners, which rebounded in Week Two to beat Monrovia 22-20 to give the Flyers some second-level points. Last week down in Warren County, Kamden Eifert scored three touchdowns in a 35-point second quarter to go along with a pair of Drew Lause scores in the first quarter en route to a 49-0 win over the Wildcats.
Add in another touchdown pass for Knouff, this one going to Victor Hoelscher, and a punt-return score by Griffin Bruns to go along with kicker Carson Bills making all 13 of his extra points and booting a field goal, and the Flyers are in midseason form. Knouff is 18-of-20 passing for 286 yards this season (an efficency rating of 276.1) with Hoelscher and Andrew Pohlman combined for 286 yards. Eifert adds 95 yards rushing and three scores. Lause also has three touchdown runs.
The Flyer defense has balanced with Ryan Homan leading the team with 12 tackles and two interceptions with Bryant Meier and Isaac Muhlenkamp each adding 11 tackles.
Charlie Werling tied the St. Henry school record with five rushing touchdowns in last Friday's win over Archbold.
St. Henry struggled against the Wing-T of St. Marys in week one, but cranked things up against Archbold behind all-purpose back Charlie Werling. The junior had both scores against St. Marys, but against the Blue Streaks, he was a Red Streak, rushing for 196 yards on 22 carries for five touchdowns, tying the school record for rushing touchdowns in a game. Werling is among the area leaders with 345 yards rushing with seven touchdowns.
Jack Huelsman has thrown for 186 yards this season on 9-of-26 passing. Carter LaGuire is the main receiver with five catches for 103 yards.
The Redskin defense rebounded from the St. Marys loss with solid play from Brody Schwartz (team-high 19 tackles). Brayden Heath and Jared Nietfeld each add 10 tackles.
Week Two has come and gone. Several teams staked early claims for dominance of the Western Buckeye League with wins in the opening week of conference play.
The teams from the Midwest Athletic Conference faced non-conference opponents who were a combined 7-3 last week, with MAC teams winning eight of those games. This will bring in a slew of computer points as conference play starts this coming week.
There are several intriguing games this week. Celina hosts Van Wert with neither team wanting to start WBL play with two losses. Also in the WBL, Bath tries to pin the first loss of the season on Shawnee.
In the MAC, Minster visits Anna with the winner looking like a contender to finish near the top of the conference. St. Henry gets to see if the momentum from their 42-14 win over Archbold carries over as they visit Marion Local.
The computer points for the entire state, and especially the four regions involving most area teams (Regions 12, 22, 24 and 28) can be found throughout the season at: user.nktelco.net/bdmonnin/football.htm
Team - Ranking (Computer Points)
Wapakoneta - 3rd (5.75)
St. Marys - 4th (5.50)
Celina - 14th (2.75)
The big game in this region was St. Marys defeating Celina 35-6 to both gain a jump on the league championship and the computer point rankings.
Undefeated St. Marys and Wapakoneta will both be favored this week against 1-1 Ottawa-Glandorf and 0-2 Defiance. 1-1 Celina, however, hosts a critical game against 1-1 Van Wert. A loss puts the Bulldogs on the early season playoff bubble, while a win makes a playoff berth seem more likely than not.
Parkway - 15th (2.20)
Parkway had a nice win over 1-1 Delphos Jefferson last week. The Panthers are going to need to find 2-3 wins in MAC play if they want to reach the playoffs. A home win against 2-0 New Bremen this week would be huge.
Coldwater - 1st (5.90)
Anna - 2nd (5.50)
Though we are only two weeks into the season, we can already pencil Coldwater and Anna into the playoffs. Coldwater is heavily favored the next six games until they play Versailles and Marion Local to end the regular season.
Anna should only need four total wins for postseason qualification, and they should be heavily favored in at least three games. A win over 2-0 Minster this week pretty well locks up a trip to the playoffs.
Marion Local - 1st (5.65)
New Bremen - 2nd (5.25)
Minster - 5th (4.40)
St. Henry - 10th (2.70)
Fort Recovery - 13th (2.00)
With 16 of the 25 teams in this region qualifying for the playoffs, we can realistically say that Marion Local, New Bremen, Minster and St. Henry are almost locks already.
Marion Local is a large favorite every game until their Week 10 matchup against Coldwater. New Bremen only needs one more win to reach the playoffs and is heavily favored to achieve that this week against Parkway. Minster might need two more wins but has two games expected to see running clocks remaining on the schedule. A win over 2-0 Anna this week would remove all doubt. St. Henry also needs two wins and as well as has two predicted big victories on their future schedule.
Fort Recovery is a large underdog in all but one of their remaining games, so they need an upset or two. Beating Coldwater this week would probably suffice by itself, but any three MAC victories would do the trick (maybe two is enough).
Both Shawnee and Defiance will need 4-5 victories to make the playoffs. Shawnee is expected to earn between four and six wins. A win over Bath would help the cause immensely.
Defiance is expected to win five contests, but they have four games that are basically pick'em. They could win them all and have seven wins or lose them all and have just three.
Ottawa-Glandorf started WBL play with a win over Kenton, but Van Wert and Elida joined Kenton in the loss column. With teams like St. Marys, Wapakoneta and Celina waiting on the WBL schedule, these teams need to beat up on each other to make the playoffs.
Elida gets a chance to do that as they travel to Kenton this week. Ottawa-Glandorf has a difficult trip to Wapakoneta, while Van Wert faces a crucial road test at Celina.
Versailles continues to look like the class of this region with two running clock victories over Milton-Union and Fort Loramie. The Tigers could do it a third time against Delphos St. John's this week.
Bath impressed in beating Van Wert last week. A win over a surprisingly Lima Shawnee squad could lead to an early season run towards a playoff berth.
Delphos St. John's 14-13 loss to Lima Central Catholic was potentially quite damaging to the Blue Jays' playoff hopes. They probably need to find three MAC wins to reach the postseason.
The Midwest Athletic Conference gets its season underway this week with while the Western Buckeye League will go into round two of league play.
Celina's Jon Lutz will look to help the Bulldogs bounce back from last Friday's loss to St. Marys when the Bulldogs host Van Wert.
Both Celina and Van Wert took tough losses in the opening week of WBL play as the Bulldogs look to get back to winning ways Friday at Celina Stadium.
Celina traveled to St. Marys for the Battle of Grand Lake and fell victim to the Roughriders' Wing-T running game that chalked up 321 yards in a 35-6 win. Van Wert lost a high-scoring affair at Bath 43-37 as Mikey Hale scored the game-winning touchdown with 71 seconds remaining in regulation.
Van Wert, at 1-1 after Week One, leads the WBL in total offense at 527 yards per game and scoring at 42.5 points per game. Quarterback Briston Wise is a dual threat, leading the WBL in rushing at 361 yards (180 per game) and second in passing with 503 yards and five touchdowns. Micah Cowan is the go-to receiver, recording 337 yards on 22 receptions with four scores. The passing game will be challenged by WBL interceptions leader Wes Greber (two) and Jon Lutz (one) in the defensive backfield.
After two home games to start the season, St. Marys makes its first road trip of the season as the Roughridedrs travel to Fred J. Brown Stadium to face a winless Defiance squad.
The Roughriders are used to putting in the miles attempting just two passes - coming in the season-opener against St. Henry - and averaging 363.5 yards on the ground in the two wins over St. Henry and Celina.
While Dominik Osborne (310 yards, four touchdowns) and Colton Mabry (216 yards, four TDs) have gained most of the carries, Caleb Schmidt has fit right into the three-back backfield, recording 149 yards and a touchdown this season. The defensive has shined with four sacks so far this season.
Defiance is winless after losing its WBL opener at Wapakoneta last week. It's the home opener for Defiance, having made the short trek to Napoleon for the River Rock Showdown in Week One, losing to the Wildcats in overtime.
The Bulldogs rank seventh in the WBL in total offense at 288 yards per game. Quarterback Brez Zipfel has thrown for 141 yards with three interceptions this season with Anthony Wilder leading the team wtih 169 rushing yards.
After a successful run to Summit County last week to move to 2-0, New Bremen travels to Parkway to face a Panther squad that snapped a seven-game losing skid to move to 1-1. The game will feature New Bremen's Chris Schmdit coaching against first-year Parkway coach Brian Schmidt.
The Cardinals have benefited from the work of Rogan Muether in the backfield. Muether has rushed for 214 yards this season. Quarterback Gavin Dicke has thrown for 180 yards and two touchdowns. Kicker Aidan Eastham has kicked two field goals to help the offense.
Parkway gave coach Brian Schmidt his first win at the school in holding off Delphos Jefferson 17-13 at Panther Stadium. Luke Booher rushed for 114 yards and a touchdown as the Panthers held off Jefferson down the stretch.
Coldwater came through the non-conference schedule unscathed as the Cavaliers open conference play at Barrenbrugge Park against Fort Recovery.
Quarterback Baylen Blockberger remains in form, passing for 277 yards and seven touchdowns in wins over Valley View and Clinton-Massie. Mason Welsch leads the team in receiving with 129 yards and two scores as Braxton Taylor and Miles Pottkotter are the go-to runners.
After a solid opening-night win, the Indians struggled at Urbana last Friday, getting a late score to avoid the shutout. The Indians have focused on the running game, averaging 189.5 yards on the ground with Reece Wendel leading the way at 239 yards. Fort Recovery is 5-of-11 passing split between Wendel, Caden Grisez and Ethan Hartnagel.
A battle of unbeatens at Booster Field in Anna has Minster looking to continue its hot streak against a Rocket team that has been sharp to as well.
Minster has had its offense on afterburners with a total of 90 points scored in wins over Fort Loramie (49-21) and Africentric (41-14). Back to good health, Brogan Stephey continues to be the threat with the run (328 yards rushing) and throw (356 yards passing with four scores). With Connor Schmiesing (207 rushing yards, 80 yards receiving) in the backfield passing targets like Dylan Heitkamp (136 yards receiving) and Tyler Bergman (61 yards), Minster has been playing solid ball.
Anna is also doing all the right things. Quarterback Alex Shappie has passed for 335 yards and four scores and rushed for 130 yards and three touchdowns. Zach Osborn leads the team with 190 yards on the ground and three scores with Alex's twin brother Aaron Shappie chipping in with 102 rushing yards and a team-best 105 receiving yards.
Versailles looks to wrap up its three-game opening homestand unscathed as St. John's comes to H.B. Hole Field.
Ethan Wilker has been solid in taking the starting quarterback spot after Michael Osborne graduated. Wilker has thrown for 259 yards and three touchdowns and scored a pair of running scores. Landyn Knapke (140 yards, three TDs) and Ben Subler (107 yards rushing, 66 yards receiving) add to the offense.
The Blue Jays took a tough 14-13 loss to LCC last Friday at Stadium Park. TJ Werts leads the Blue Jays with 209 yards rushing and three touchdowns while quarterback Drew Boggs has thrown for 293 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 125 yards with a pair of scores.
Charlie Werling, RB, St. Henry
Dylan Heitkamp, DB, MinsterVan Wert at Celina
St. Marys at Defiance
Ottawa-Glandorf at Wapakoneta
Bath at Shawnee
Elida at Kenton
St. Henry at Marion Local
Coldwater at Fort Recovery
Minster at Anna
New Bremen at Parkway
St. John's at Versailles
| WBL | Overall | |
| St. Marys | 1-0 | 2-0 |
| Shawnee | 1-0 | 2-0 |
| Wapakoneta | 1-0 | 2-0 |
| Bath | 1-0 | 1-1 |
| Ottawa-Glandorf | 1-0 | 1-1 |
| Celina | 0-1 | 1-1 |
| Elida | 0-1 | 1-1 |
| Van Wert | 0-1 | 1-1 |
| Defiance | 0-1 | 0-2 |
| Kenton | 0-1 | 0-2 |
| MAC | Overall | |
| Anna | 0-0 | 2-0 |
| Coldwater | 0-0 | 2-0 |
| Marion Local | 0-0 | 2-0 |
| Minster | 0-0 | 2-0 |
| New Bremen | 0-0 | 2-0 |
| Versailles | 0-0 | 2-0 |
| Fort Recovery | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| Parkway | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| St. Henry | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| St. John's | 0-0 | 1-1 |
