Marion Local Defeats Minster 42-0 to Clinch Share of MAC

By Dave Stilwell

MINSTER – After one-point wins in two of its last three games, Marion Local extended its winning streak to 73, and it was drama-free.

The Flyers took care of business in claiming at least a share of their fifth consecutive Midwest Athletic Conference title with a 42-0 victory over Minster Friday at Memorial Field.

Marion (9-0, 7-0 MAC) did not have a turnover or a penalty, recorded six sacks, controlled

the line of scrimmage and picked up its fourth shutout of the season.

“It was a rough week of practice after the last couple weeks where we were pretty stagnant in terms of just growing,” Marion Local coach Tim Goodwin said. “So it was a rough week of practice, but the kids are tough, resilient and we came out and were ready to play tonight.”

Three quick first-quarter Flyer scores seemed to deflate the Wildcats and squelch any thoughts of a big Homecoming upset.

After Minster went three-and-out on the game’s first possession, Marion Local’s Andrew Schmackers returned the ensuing punt 66 yards for a touchdown.

Another three-and-out and a Minster punt got the Flyers started at midfield, resulting in a short drive culminated by a nine-yard touchdown pass from Brennen Hess to Brayden Mescher.

Minster again failed to pick up a first down on its next possession and the third punt of the game was fielded by Cale Nagel, who returned it 63 yards for a touchdown.

With 2:42 left in the first quarter Marion Local had run seven plays from scrimmage and led 21-0.

“Any time that happens it’s a mental blow, but our kids have battled back from adversity the last two weeks against good football teams – New Bremen and Versailles – and played their tails off,” Minster coach Seth Whiting said. “Our response to it tonight didn’t make any sense. We’re a much better team than the way we played, and we’ll fix that.”

The second quarter turned into the Kamden Eifert show. The Marion senior running back carried the ball five times on a nine-play scoring drive. Eifert scored the first of his three touchdowns on a student body right sweep from 15 yards out.

Minster (5-4, 4-3 MAC) responded with its best drive of the night. Quarterback Carson Kaylor

connected with Noah Schwieterman for a 42-yard gain. Two plays later Kaylor hit Schwieterman again for a first-and-goal at the Flyer nine-yard line.

But the Cats went backward from there, turning the ball over on downs at the 29. From there the Flyers marched 71 yards in eight plays, while picking up five first downs. Eifert went the final seven yards with 2:53 left in the half, giving Marion a 35-0 lead and ensuring a running clock for the second half.

Whiting said he was not surprised with the Flyers game plan on either side of the ball.

“They didn’t do anything we didn’t practice against. Their stunts are the same ones they use

every year. What they did on offense was identical to what we prepared for,” he said. “We were prepared to play the game tonight; we just didn’t play very well. We didn’t coach it well enough; we didn’t play it hard enough. You can’t show up against good teams and not play.”

The Flyer starters only played the opening drive of the second half and Eifert tacked on his third score with a two-yard run. Thomas Winner made it 6-for-6 on PAT kicks to close out the scoring with 6:24 left in the third.

Eifert finished with 138 yards on 20 carries.

“He’s running well, and when you have a back that’s making good cuts, it makes everyone else look better because he’s helping them be successful,” Goodwin said. “That wasn’t happening earlier in the season.”

Marion will cap the regular season at home next Friday against Coldwater and Goodwin does not need any analysis of what kind of momentum will be needed against the Cavaliers.

“Yeah, it’s Coldwater. We’ll be ready,” he said bluntly. “That’s just a great opponent, and a great rival of ours. The coaches will be ready; the players will be ready.”

Minster wraps up the regular season at Fort Recovery.

Score by quarter 1 2 3 4 Total

Marion Local 21 14 7 0 42

Minster 0 0 0 0 0

First Quarter:

ML – Andrew Schmackers 66 yd punt return (Thomas Winner kick), 10:27

ML – Brayden Mescher 9 yd pass from Brandon Hess (Thomas Winner kick), 4:56

ML – Cale Nagel 63 yd punt return (Thomas Winner kick), 2:42

Second Quarter:

ML – Kamden Eifert 15 yd run (Thomas Winner kick), 8:21

ML – Kamden Eifert 7 yd run (Thomas Winner kick), 2:53

Third Quarter:

ML – Kamden Eifert 2 yd run (Thomas Winner kick), 6:32

Team statistics ML MIN

First downs 16 7

Rushes - yards 36-223 28-5

Passing yards 31 107

Comp - att - int 4-7-0 11-16-0

Total yards 254 112

Punts - average 1-33.0 5-30.8

Fumbles - lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties - yards 0-0 1-2

Time of possession 22:49 25:11

Individual statistics

Rushing: Marion Local, Eifert 20-138, Meier 7-49, Griesdorn 5-16, Hess 1-13, Mescher 1-6, Wolters 1-1, Minton 1-0; Minster, Meyer 9-24, Kuehner 4-4, Kaylor 15-(minus 23)

Passing: Marion Local, Hess 4-5-0-31, Wolters 0-2-0-0; Minster, Kaylor 10-15-0-102, Steinke 1-1-0-5

Receiving: Marion Local, Mescher 4-31; Minster, Schwieterman 6-83, Bergman 3-14, Meyer 1-5, Inskeep 1-5