Marion Local Secures
Goodwin’s 200th Coaching Win with 44-6 Triumph over Minster
By
Bruce Monnin
MINSTER — After last week’s loss to Coldwater,
the Marion Local Flyers scored early and often against the Minster
Wildcats. Marion scored every time they
had the ball, dominating the line of scrimmage to earn a 44-6 victory.
The Flyers rushed the ball 34 times in the game
for 270 yards. Nate Moeller did the
major damage, covering 137 yards on only nine carries. Duane Leugers added
137 passing, sending all six of his completions to Ryan Thobe. The Wildcats were held to just 162 total yards.
“This was a perfect game for us,” summarized
Flyer coach Tim Goodwin. “Minster is a
good rival, so our kids were ready to play.”
It was Goodwin’s 200th career coaching victory
with Marion Local. "I was around my
dad all the time and he got to around 217 wins or something," added
Goodwin. "I’ve just been blessed
with a lot of great coaches, a lot of great kids and a great community to
support us all."
It took only two plays and fifty seconds for
the Flyers to first penetrate the Wildcat end zone. Moeller broke through the Minster line and
outran the defense for a 57-yard touchdown.
On the Flyer’s second possession it took a little longer, five plays,
before Leugers connected with Thobe for a 48-yard-deep
strike score.
Marion Local’s third drive started out the
same, but the Minster defense stiffened with their back against the goal
line. The Flyers were forced to settle
for a 22-yard Tyler Mescher field goal to make the
score 17-0 at the start of the second quarter.
The Wildcats seemed to draw on the defensive
stop for momentum, as they launched a twelve-play drive of their own. Minster reached the Flyer 14-yard line before
the Marion defense hardened and would allow no more. Another Marion touchdown followed, this time
on a Nate Moeller four-yard run, to make the score 24-0 at half.
A more determined Wildcat team received the
second half kickoff. Twelve plays later,
Jared Huelsman threw to Bryce Schmiesing for a 25-yard
touchdown, in what would turn out to be Minster’s only score on the evening.
Marion responded with a twelve-yard Jack Homan
touchdown run and a fourteen-yard scoring pass from Leugers
to Thobe to get the running clock into play.
A Nolan Habodasz two-yard run to paydirt
accounted for the final 44-6 score.
"Our entire program is kind of soft right
now," was Minster coach Geron Stokes’ take on
the contest. "We’re scared of the
big dogs. When they’re
on our schedule, we dip our toes in the water and we’re scared. So, I have to find a way to do a better job
of making our program tougher."
The Flyers (3-1) now take on another one loss
team, hosting 2-2 Versailles next Friday.
Minster (2-2) will attempt to return to the win column when they travel
to face 3-1 Fort Recovery.
Score
by quarter 1
2 3 4 Total
Marion
Local 14 10 13 7 44
Minster 0 0
6 0 6
First
Quarter:
ML
– Nate Moeller 57 yd run (Tyler Mescher kick), 11:10
ML
– Ryan Thobe 48 yd pass from Duane Leugers (Tyler Mescher kick), 4:59
Second
Quarter:
ML
– Tyler Mescher 22 yd FG, 12:00
ML
– Nate Moeller 4 yd run (Tyler Mescher kick), 2:04
Third
Quarter:
MIN
– Bryce Schmiesing 25 yd pass from Jared Huelsman
(run failed), 6:28
ML
– Jack Homan 12 yd run (kick failed), 5:07
ML
– Ryan Thobe 14 yd pass from Duane Leugers (Tyler Mescher kick), 1:52
Fourth
Quarter:
ML
– Nolan Habodasz 2 yd run (Tyler Mescher
kick), 2:00
Team
statistics ML MIN
First
downs 16 11
Rushes
- yards 34-270 31-69
Passing
yards 137 98
Comp
- att - int 6-8-0 10-16-0
Total
yards 407 167
Punts
- average 0-0.0 3-34.7
Fumbles
- lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties
- yards 3-24 2-10
Time
of possession 22:30 25:30
Individual
statistics
Rushing: Marion Local, Moeller 10-141, Rethman 5-38, Keller 8-33, Homan 3-22, Partington 2-12, Buening 2-10, Habodasz 2-8, Thobe
1-6, Leugers 1-0; Minster, Huelsman 16-34, Heitbrink 5-18, B Schmiesing
7-14, Schmitmeyer 3-3
Passing: Marion Local, Leugers
6-8-0-137; Minster, Huelsman 10-16-0-98
Receiving: Marion Local, Thobe 6-137; Minster, B Schmiesing 5-53, Niemeyer 5-45