Marion Local Prevails 27-16 Over Minster

By Bruce Monnin

MINSTER — Last season was the tale of two games for the Marion Local Flyers and the Minster Wildcats. Marion Local won the regular season game at home in dominating fashion, 41-6. Minster got its revenge in the playoffs, upsetting the Flyers 30-26. Friday night, the result was somewhere in between, as Marion Local prevailed 26-17 in a close, hard fought contest.

“It was a difficult and important game,” stated Flyer coach Tim Goodwin. “Two teams with evenly matched talent who are both in region 24.”

“It was a hard-fought game,” agreed Wildcat coach Nate Moore. “Our guys left everything out on the field.”

In the final analysis, Marion Local had two weapons that Minster could not stop. On the ground, Jake Heitkamp carried the ball 27 times for 155 yards and two touchdowns. Through the air, quarterback Adam Bertke connected eight times with receiver Lee Pierron for 129 yards and two more scores.

The two teams traded the momentum back and forth throughout the game. The Wildcats struck first, as Korey Schultz returned the opening kickoff 53 yards to the Flyer 46-yard line. Ten plays later quarterback Adam Niemeyer connected with Daniel Gusching for a 14-yard touchdown pass. Minster followed up by faking the extra point kick, with Gusching passing to Ethan Wolf to make the score 8-0.

Marion Local wasted no time reducing the deficit. On their first possession, the Flyers drove 75 yards to score. The big play was a 43-yard carry by Heitkamp, which was followed two plays later by an eleven-yard Bertke to Pierron touchdown pass. The extra point was blocked, leaving Minster with the 8-6 lead.

Minster’s offense drove inside the Marion Local thirty-yard line on its next series, but the Flyer defense successfully stopped the Wildcats on a fourth down and six play to reclaim the ball and the momentum.

Marion Local proceeded to drive inside the Minster thirty-yard line and faced their own fourth down with six yards to go. However, the Flyers were able to convert on a 21-yard pass to Pierron. Heitkamp followed with a two-yard touchdown run to give Marion Local a 12-8 lead they were not to relinquish.

The Flyers scored once more with 1:35 remaining in the half to extend the lead to 19-8. Marion Local needed only three plays on the drive, with Bertke again finding Pierron for a 24-yard touchdown pass. Minster immediately responded with a 52-yard pass from Niemeyer to Derek Collins to get near the end zone, then scored on an eight-yard pass to Devon Poeppelman to trim the Marion Local halftime lead to 19-14.

Minster seemed to keep the momentum on their side when the Flyers fumbled a third quarter punt which was recovered by Troy Kaufman at the 16-yard line. However, the Marion Local defense again rose to the occasion, forcing Devon Poeppelman to kick a 19-yard field goal which made the score 19-17.

Coach Goodwin thought the defensive stand was the critical point in the game. “Holding Minster to a field goal there was big.”

The Marion Local offense did not let the score stay close for long, as it took the Flyers only seven plays to drive 84 yards for the final score of the night. After a 24-yard completion to Kellen Goettemoeller and one of 28 yards to Pierron, Heitkamp capped off the drive with a 19-yard touchdown run to make the score 26-17.

Minster was able to threaten one more time late in the game. They marched to the Marion Local 11-yard line with less than two minutes remaining but were again stopped on a fourth-down play by a Flyer defense that came up big whenever it was most needed.

Next week Marion Local, now 3-1, plays host to the 2-2 Anna Rockets. Minster (2-2) travels a couple of miles north to face New Bremen (0-4).

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Marion Local 6 13 7 0 26

Minster 8 6 3 0 17