Marion Local Pulls Away in Second Half For 21-7 Win Over Minster

By Bruce Monnin

MARIA STEIN — It was a penalty strewn, defensive struggle between the top ranked teams in divisions six and seven, but in the end it was the Marion Local Flyers who were able to keep second half drives alive in order to achieve a 21-7 victory over the Minster Wildcats.

The first quarter belonged to Minster, thanks to a 52-yard touchdown pass from Jared Huelsman to Austin Brown. Marion Local could get nothing going, thanks to a stout Wildcat rushing defense and a streak where the Flyers turned the ball over on three consecutive plays from scrimmage.

Late in the first quarter, the Wildcats recovered a fumble at the Marion Local 29-yard line and hoped to increase their lead. That dream was crushed when Minster was penalized for 44 yards on their drive and were pushed back to their own 35-yard line.

The teams traded punts (9 total in the first half) and penalties (10 total for 111 yards) for the rest of the half until only two minutes remained. Starting from near midfield, Nathan Bruns completed a 29-yard pass to Nick Tangeman, ran for five yards, then found Tangemen again for a 15-yard touchdown to even the score 7-7 at half.

“That touchdown before half was big,” concluded Flyer coach Tim Goodwin. “It was a tough game for both sides just trying to get in a rhythm with all the flags that were flying.”

Marion Local still had the momentum early in the third quarter, as the first time they received the ball the Flyers drove for the go ahead score. After a 36-yard pass from Bruns to Derek Ruhenkamp, Henry Keller pounded into the end zone from two yards out to give Marion Local their first lead, 14-7.

Late in the period, Minster mounted a drive of their own, reaching the Flyer 26-yard line. Huelsman then scampered through the Marion Local defense for an apparent score, but a yellow flag on the field for holding negated the play, thus ending the Wildcats’ last scoring threat of the evening.

“Probably the biggest play of the game was when they called holding on Huelsman’s touchdown in the second half,” added Goodwin.

Starting the fourth quarter, the Flyers used ten plays to push Minster back to their 25-yard line. On fourth down Bruns found Tyler Prenger for a 24-yard completion to the Wildcat one-yard line. Once again, Keller was called on to finish the drive and provide the final 21-7 score.

Quarterback Bruns not only threw for 228 yards, but surprised Minster by rushing for numerous first downs and 51 yards. Bruns’ runs were instrumental in the Flyers converting five of seven third down conversions in the second half, while Marion Local’s defense allowed the Wildcats only six first downs on the evening and stopped Minster 11 out of 12 times on third down.

"We were struggling with our two back running game," added Goodwin. "I mean it just wasn’t getting any traction. So, we tried to spread them out a little bit and do something different. We haven’t run him (Bruns) much this year, but you do what you have to do.”

"They’re just a better football team than we are right now," concluded Minster coach Geron Stokes. "Our effort was unreal. We competed like crazy. I thought it was awesome. We just have to compete on the big downs. They made big plays on big downs, and we didn’t."

The Flyers (4-0) now take on another one loss team, traveling 1-2 Versailles next Friday. Minster (3-1) will return home to face 2-2 Fort Recovery.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Marion Local 0 7 7 7 21

Minster 7 0 0 0 7

First Quarter:

MIN – Austin Brown 52 yd pass from Jared Huelsman (Isaac Schiesing kick), 5:05

Second Quarter:

ML – Nick Tangeman 15 yd pass from Nathan Bruns (Alex Klosterman kick), 1:32

Third Quarter:

ML – Henry Keller 2 yd run (Alex Klosterman kick), 7:07

Fourth Quarter:

ML – Henry Keller 1 yd run (Alex Klosterman kick), 7:20

Team statistics ML MIN

First downs 17 6

Rushes - yards 36-151 25-71

Passing yards 228 135

Comp - att - int 15-27-1 7-20-1

Total yards 379 206

Punts - average 5-38.4 9-34.3

Fumbles - lost 3-2 0-0

Penalties - yards 7-73 9-90

Time of possession 26:51 21:09

Individual statistics

Rushing: Marion Local, Habodasz 16-65, Bruns 7-51, Partington 7-17, Buening 2-11, Keller 3-5, Rethman 1-2; Minster, Huelsman 19-55, Schmiesing 6-16

Passing: Marion Local, Bruns 14-26-1-203, Keller 1-1-0-25; Minster, Huelsman 7-20-1-135

Receiving: Marion Local, Tangeman 6-106, Ruhenkamp 5-81, Rethman 2-12, Prenger 1-24, Partington 1-5; Minster, Brown 4-107, Schmiesing 1-15, Boehnlein 1-7, Heitbrink 1-6