Marion Local Rolls Past Minster 56-14

By Bruce Monnin

MARIA STEIN – The Marion Local Flyer offense has at times struggled to put points on the board this season, but Friday night they broke loose with four scoring players of 34 yards or longer in a 56-14 victory over the visiting Minster Wildcats.

“Our offense has been struggling,” admitted Flyer coach Tim Goodwin.  “It was nice to see some big plays out here.  We had 80 points total coming into this game.  We got two thirds of that tonight.”

"Marion Local is obviously very solid, and we knew we had our hands full tonight," explained Minster coach Seth Whiting, whose team featured 13 freshman and sophomore starters.  "Of our kids coming out of camp, our 22 offensive and defensive starters, we have six still playing right now.”

The Marion Local defense gave their offense a good head start as Jake Topp intercepted a Minster pass at the Wildcat 33-yard line.  Five plays later, Kyle Otte’s 13-yard run gave the Flyers an early 7-0 lead.

A short Minster punt gave the ball back to Marion Local at the Minster 40-yard line.  This time the Flyers needed nine plays before Kyle Otte scored from one yard out to give the Marion Local a 14-0 lead after one quarter.

The second quarter saw the teams combine for six touchdowns.  Peyton Otte started the scoring flurry with a 34-yard run.  After Darren Meier recovered a Wildcat fumble, Dylan Fleck expanded the lead to 28-0 with an 11-yard touchdown run.

Minster responded as freshman quarterback James Niemeyer, who was playing because the five QBs ahead of him on the depth chart were all injured or ill, connected with Jack Kohne for a 62-yard deep strike.  A two-point conversion pass to Zach Fortman reduced the deficit to 28-8.

The Flyer offense was not about to be stopped, as they used nine plays to set up a five-yard pass from Otte to Aiden Eifert.  Minster went back to what worked before, this time Niemeyer and Kohne connecting on a 69 bomb for the score.

“Jack (Kohne) is fast.  The way they were rotating in coverage we saw some things where he could get through and get to the post,” added Whiting.  “They obviously adjusted later and we couldn’t get back to that."

Before Wildcat fans could stop cheering, Drew Luase broke free for a 48-yard touchdown run to make the halftime score 42-14 in favor of the Flyers.

Despite the lopsided score, Marion Local only outgained Minster 246 yard to 178.  This was because all seven Flyer drives in the half started in Minster territory, while the average starting position for the Wildcats was their own 24-yard line.

Marion Local was stopped on their opening drive of the second half, but Kyle Otte received a following Minster punt and returned it 61 yards to make the score 49-14 and set the running clock in motion.  Later in the third quarter, Peyton Moeller tallied the final touchdown with a 59-yard scamper for the final 56-14 score.

The Flyers dominated on the ground, with Moeller garnering 92 of Marion Local’s 327 rushing yards, while their defense limited Minster to just 48 yards on the ground.

The Wildcats had the advantage in the air, outgaining Marion Local 201-34.  Niemeyer threw for 159 of those yards to Kohne, placing him tenth on the Minster single game receiving yards list.

Undefeated 5-0 Marion Local (3-0 MAC) next travels to face 1-4 Delphos St. John’s.  1-4 Minster (0-3 MAC) will host 0-5 Parkway next Friday.

Score by quarter          1 2 3 4 Total

Marion Local                 14 28 14 0 56

Minster                         0         14         0         0          14

First Quarter:

ML – Kyle Otte 13 yd run (Kevin Partington kick), 6:53

ML – Kyle Otte 1 yd run (Kevin Partington kick), 1:49

Second Quarter:

ML – Peyton Otte 34 yd run (Carson Bills kick), 8:32

ML – Dylan Fleck 11 yd run (Carson Bills kick), 7:04

MIN – Jack Kohne 62 yd pass from James Niemeyer (Zach Fortman pass from James Niemeyer), 6:49

ML – Aiden Eifert 5 yd pass from Peyton Otte (Carson Bills kick), 2:55

MIN – Jack Kohne 69 yd pass from James Niemeyer (pass failed), 1:58

ML – Drew Lause 48 yd run (Carson Bills kick), 1:38

Third Quarter:

ML – Kyle Otte 61 yd punt return (Carson Bills kick), 7:25

ML – Peyton Moeller 59 yd run (Carson Bills kick), 0:37

Team statistics             ML                    MIN

First downs                   17                     10

Rushes - yards              40-327              18-49

Passing yards               34                     201

Comp - att - int              4-12-1               10-26-2

Total yards                    361                   250

Punts - average             0-0.0                 4-25.0

Fumbles - lost               0-0                    2-1

Penalties - yards           3-15                  3-10

Time of possession       24:37                23:23

Individual statistics

Rushing:  Marion Local, Moeller 5-92, P Otte 7-57, Lause 2-57, K Otte 11-52, Fleck 4-23, Meier 4-21, Arling 5-19, Partington 2-6; Minster, Wellman 11-29, Schmiesing 4-18, Niemeyer 3-2

Passing:  Marion Local, P Otte 4-12-1-34; Minster, Niemeyer 10-26-2-201

Receiving:  Marion Local, Ronnebaum 3-29, Eifert 1-5; Minster, Kohne 5-159, Schmiesing 2-15, Fortman 1-11, Kies 1-8, Wellman 1-8