Marion Local Wins Key Downs To Choke Out Versailles 27-3

Marion Local gets the most out of its roster of any team in the area, and that was the difference in the Flyers’ Friday win.

By Alan Brads for Press Pros

Versailles, OH – On the last play of Marion Local’s 62nd consecutive regular-season win, the Flyer defense allowed its very first third-down conversion against Versailles Friday night. 

Until then, Marion held the Tigers to 0/10 on third and fourth down attempts. Stiffening on defense when it mattered most delivered the Flyers a 27-3 win, free of all controversy this year. The Flyers continued their win streak against Versailles dating back to 2012.

The 2026 team may not have the athletic makeup or natural talent of some of the others that helped build that 14-year streak. But this year’s squad is still good in the moments it needs to be, and seldom makes a flat-out bad play. 

“They’re fighters and competitors,” Head Coach Tim Goodwin said of Versailles.

“They don’t beat themselves. The same meticulous, assignment-sound unit you’re accustomed to seeing is what you’ll get when you watch them this year. The defense never breaks, and it bends like a trampoline spring, not a wet spaghetti noodle. When they make a mistake, they snap back into form and string together three plays to counteract the error.” 

Sometimes you hear about teams that just know how to win, and you might wonder if that’s even a thing.  Or if it is, what it looks like?

Here’s your answer: In the first half, Versailles outgained Marion Local 137-128. The Tigers won the turnover battle 2-1, and a penalty turned a Marion Local punt return touchdown into an eventual interception.

Yet, the Flyers led 13-3 at the half. Somehow they string together plays in the right combinations at the right moments to squeeze more juice out of the fruit than anyone else can.

The defense didn’t win every down against Versailles’ T-formation offense. But if you didn’t know better, you might think it won every down it wanted to win. Versailles picked up one or two first downs on almost every drive, but around midfield, Jalen Rose would crash and sack Blake Monnin.  Logan Ronnebaum would smash a tailback in the backfield.  Or Ben Meier would tip a pass to set Versailles behind schedule. And behind schedule is bad news for a team that goes 1 for 9 on third down attempts.

“We’d been practicing good run defense this week by playing low and playing hard,” Meier said. 

Four weeks in, Goodwin is still toying and tinkering with who plays, when they play, and on which side of the ball. But in Marion’s style of play, the number on the jersey matters less than the logo on the helmet. They don’t need superstars to make opponents feel like they’re playing 12, 13 or 14-on-11. 

“We knew they wanted to run it a lot,” junior Camden Griesdorn said. “So we came ready to stop them and run it better than they did.”

Marion’s offense held up its end of the bargain with four touchdowns by four different players: Andrew Schmackers, Griesdorn, Brennen Hess and Meier. 

Griesdorn shouldered the biggest load, as he has all season. His score against Versailles was his 13th in four games this year. He accounted for nearly all of Marion Local’s 142 rushing yards and 36 attempts. 3.9 per carry isn’t exactly a parade down Broadway, but it was enough of a march to keep the ball away from Versailles.

Hess had an efficient game throwing, connecting on 12 of 15 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown. He opened the scoring with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Schmackers on 4th down. Schmackers finished with seven catches for 56 yards and a pair of big punt returns.

Marion Local missed the extra point, which played into Scott Broerman’s decision to kick a field goal on 4th-and-7 to cut it to 6-3 in the second quarter.

Griesdorn scored from six yards to make it 13-3, and when Marion Local quickly got the ball back, Hess went for the long ball, but Versailles’ Oliver Brunswick punished his greed and picked him off.

While Versailles’ offense moved the ball but couldn’t score in the first half, it was dead on arrival in the second.

“It was a little bit rough early,” Goodwin said. “But once we got used to the style and what they were trying to do, our kids made adjustments on their own.”

Broerman said one of those key adjustments was taking away the off-tackle runs that gave the Tigers some life in the first half. They ran for only 19 yards in the second half.

On the other side, Hess once again faced fourth down inside the five-yard line, called his own number, and scrambled into the corner of the end zone.

Meier capped his well-rounded night with a 7-yard TD to end the 27-3 win.

“We beat a pretty good team 27-3, and we made a ton of mistakes,” Goodwin said. “And that’s bad, but it’s also good because we can play better.”

Versailles moves on to Fort Recovery (2-2) next week, looking to snap a two-game losing streak before a daunting homestand against New Bremen (2-2) and Coldwater (4-0). 

“We’ve got to keep working,” Broerman said. “I know these kids aren’t going to quit. They put in too much work. And I know a lot of teams could say that. But…they’re not gonna quit. I told them we’ve got a lot of season left and we’ll get where we need to be.”

The Flyers find themselves in a familiar spot as an undefeated team in Region 28 and the MAC.

They return home to face an underachieving Anna team that got crushed 39-0 by St. Henry, despite high preseason expectations. Then the Flyers travel to play those St. Henry Redskins, the only team to beat them in the last half-decade.

The talent might be more spread out in the conference this season than in years past, but until the wins start spreading out, the MAC belongs to Marion Local.

That’s the benefit of the doubt…earned by five straight outright league titles.