Marion Local quarterback Justin Knouff leans into his second quarter touchdown run that gave the Flyers a 21-0 lead over Coldwater at halftime. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Sonny Fulks)
The new Ohio record for consecutive wins now belongs to Marion Local…58 in a row…and the Flyers won it in style with their fifth consecutive shutout, 35-0 over Coldwater.
Coldwater, OH – After twenty five years, 14 state titles, and all those wins along the way, the one that Tim Goodwin and the Marion Local Flyers took home Friday night may one day be the most significant of all – a win that belongs to the ages.
Until someone tops it…if, and when.
Marion captured its 58th consecutive win Friday in front of an overflow crowd, going back to a playoff loss to New Bremen in 2020, setting the new Ohio record for high school football, and surpassing the old record set by MAC brethren Delphos St. John from 1996 through 2000. Ironically, it was Marion who broke that streak with a win over Delphos in the state semi-final game of that year.
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So after twenty five years, 14 state titles, and speaking about more memorable milestones than the typically understated Goodwin is comfortable with…this one, #58, had him nearly speechless.
“It’s a lot of games in a row,” he began after gathering his thoughts. “I’m just proud of our guys…how they listened to what we told them, that the record was for everyone else to talk about, and not us. Thinking about the record, talking about the record, hearing about the record…none of that was going to help them get the record. And they had to be hearing it because they’re not in the locker room 24/7. My hat’s off to them.”
And like the old Smith-Barney Investments commercial done by actor John Houseman…they earned it. With a totally convincing 35-0 win over unbeaten Division VI #1-ranked Coldwater, Marion once again opened eyes across Ohio with their fifth consecutive shutout – their sixth of the season – setting another Marion Local football record by allowing opponents just 22 points over ten weeks of the regular season.
Griffin Bruns’ forty yard catch from Justin Knouff set up a Marion Local touchdown in Friday’s win over Coldwater.
“They’re a juggernaut,” smiled Coldwater coach Chip Otten, appreciatively, afterwards. Disappointed as he was for his team and the way they finished their season (9-1), Otten was nothing but classy with his respect for the record and quality of Marion Local latest outstanding season.
“They just got so many weapons, so many great players out there,” Otten began. “And Tim and I talk about this, about when we’re both unbeaten and play each other in the final game of the season one of us is going to go home unhappy. Tonight it was us. That’s a really good football team. Still, we thought we could some things against them, but they took a lot of that away.”
After stopping Coldwater on the opening possession of the game, Marion immediately moved down the field 75 yards in 7 plays, the biggest a forty yard bomb to receiver Griffin Bruns; and two plays later quarterback Justin Knouff hooked up with Vic Hoelscher for 15 yards and an opening score…7-0, at 6:49 of the quarter.
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Stopping Coldwater again, Marion this time scored with 55 seconds left on a Drew Lause two-yard run, capping a 71-yard drive in 9 plays…Marion 14-0.
With 2:39 left before halftime, Coldwater quarterback Baylen Blockberger fumbled on what would have been a first down run, only to have Marion recover the football, and take what seemed to be all the momentum that Coldwater would have for remainder of the night. With field position near the 50 yard line, Justin Knouff scored on a seven yard run with 39 seconds left before halftime to increase the deficit to 21-0.
Marion’s Victor Hoelscher hauls in a first down pass in the first half of Friday’s 35-0 over Coldwater.
The second half, like the first, was all Marion. Holding Coldwater to just 196 total yards for the game, Marion scored three minutes into the third quarter on a 1-yard Parker Hess run to go up 28-0. And after trading punts with Coldwater into the fourth quarter, Drew Lause would crash the goal line for his second score of the game from 13 yards out to conclude things…35-0.
Marion would outgain Coldwater for the game by a margin of 394 to 197. But in games of this magnitude…once again it was the disparity in the run game that simply wore Coldwater down – 211 Marion yards on the ground between Lause (42), Knouff (86), Kamden Eifert (30), and Parker Hess (53).
Miles Pottkotter would lead Coldwater with just 27 yards on 8 rush attempts. Sophomore Braxton Taylor finished with 24 yards, on three attempts.
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In addition, Marion’s defense snuffed most of Baylen Blockberger’s opportunities to pass, holding the Cavaliers to just 138 yards through the air on 13 of 23 attempts. Mason Welsch led the Cavaliers in catches with 4, for 52 yards.
By comparison, the Flyers’ Justin Knouff would complement the running attack with 183 yards and a touchdown on 9 of 14 attempts. Teammate Victor Hoelscher led all receivers with 102 yards and a touchdown. Griffin Bruns added 81 yards on just two catches. And for those who weekly ask the biggest difference in Marion football over 58 straight wins, compared to what it was when the streak began, without a doubt it’s their ability to throw the ball with thunder-and-lightning impact, and when they want to, Not…when they have to.
Not many highlights…but Mason Welsch’s interception of a Justin Knouff pass in the second half was a bright spot for Coldwater’s defense.
“It (the pass game) makes us more of a dual threat,” said Victor Hoelscher. “We’ve always been known for our running game – that’s been the motto – and now the passing game is just a big plus for us. Some nights it isn’t there, and some games it is. Tonight it was there, the run game was there, and we executed them well.”
As efficient as they were on offense – balanced – a look at the stats sheet will point out that once again it was Marion’s defense that set things up. When you limit teams to that few opportunities and points, there’s hardly any way you can lose.
“And I really want to recognize our defense,” said Goodwin. “We don’t pay a lot of attention to stats, but we’ve only given up 22 points in ten games, and that’s a school record – zero touchdown passes in those ten games, and that’s a team record. And it’s 2024 football, and not 1958, so that’s pretty impressive. I’m proud of these guys and it’s a team effort. We were able to dial up some pressure at key times tonight, so yeah…a great job by the defense, for sure.”
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58 wins is history-making, and ongoing from week to week. And yet, when you have all those titles, and now all those wins…how can high school kids appreciate it, for all that it took to get here and for all that’s still to accomplish?
“I don’t know,” Goodwin added. “I guess you’d have to ask them that. A lot of these kids played last season, and Victor was actually there in ’22 when we were really stout [on defense]. But this is the cherry on top…the culmination of a lot of kids over twenty six years. And you don’t just do this from a dead start. It takes a lot of traction, and it takes a lot of commitment by a lot of people.”
Marion Local’s Drew Lause scores the second of his two touchdowns to conclude the scoring in the Flyers’ 35-0 win.
Adding to a night of records, it was probably the biggest home gate for a Coldwater home football game, ever, and with no exact figure for how many people came to see history. Just huge.
But there was an exact figure for a record-setting 50-50 drawing – $22,480.
“I didn’t win it,” someone laughed. “But it was neat to be a part of the [record] pot.”
And they say that the best history is history in the making.
No one who watched Marion Local Friday night…for 22 points surrendered over ten weeks…for five consecutive shutouts…for, as Victor Hoelscher said “the passing game and the running game both working”…is willing to believe that they’ve now seen the last of this latest Marion miracle.
For those across Ohio, and those like Marine Michael Hemmelgarn, reading Saturday morning from Camp Pendleton, in San Diego, California…it’s very likely.
You ain’t seen nothing, yet!
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