Senior Parker Hess rushed for four touchdowns as the Flyers finished 16-0 and claimed their fourth straight state title. It was their 15th state championship victory in 18 state final appearances since 2000 — both state records.
The program set a goal earlier in the week to play their best game of the season, said Flyers coach Tim Goodwin, who earned his 325th career win. They accomplished it, he said.
“I told these guys they deserved to play well in this game because we’ve been over here a lot of times and there’s been times we just haven’t played well,” Goodwin said. “It’s been a struggle. I was happy that we were able to put our best foot forward in front of football guys across the state. I thought we played pretty well in a lot of different areas.”
Marion Local was dominant from the start, setting the state record for most points scored in a D-VII state championship game. They broke the previous mark of 42 points set by the Flyers four years ago in their 2021 D-VII state title game victory over Newark Catholic.
Marion Local led 33-0 after the first quarter and extended their lead to 60-0 at the half. They intercepted five passes in the game and allowed just 75 total yards and four first downs.
“Obviously we wanted to get off to a fast start,” Goodwin said. “We had the advantage with experience and we thought we were better than they were in special teams. There were a few areas we thought we had the advantage and we capitalized on those. We didn’t run a lot of plays, had a lot of short fields after interceptions and punt returns. The game kind of snowballed fast. It wasn’t exactly what we expected for sure.”
Jeromesville Hillsdale — competing in its first-ever state title game — finished the season 14-2.
“The thing that impressed me the most is just how fundamentally sound they are,” said Falcons coach Trevor Klein. “You see that on film, but usually you can find weak spots on a team and that’s not the case with Marion Local. Heck, even when they rotated guys in, those guys who are getting rotated in are still guys who on the vast majority of teams throughout Ohio would start for them.”
Marion Local scored in all three phases of the game — all in the first half.
Offensively, Hess rushed for four touchdowns, senior Justin Knouff rushed for a 60-yard score and senior Ethan Heitkamp also ran for a touchdown. Knouff also threw a 37-yard TD pass to senior Victor Hoelscher.
On the other side of the ball, senior Griffin Bruns returned an interception 45 yards for a touchdown. They also scored on special teams as Hoelscher returned a punt 66 yards for a touchdown.
How dominant were the Flyers this season? They averaged 49 points per game, while allowing just 49 points the entire season. They beat every team this season by 14 or more points, collecting 10 shutouts.
The Flyers class of 18 seniors finished their careers a perfect 64-0, claiming four straight state championships for the second time in program history. The accomplishment still hadn’t sunk in yet, said senior lineman Kyle Ungruhn.
“It feels weird that the season is over and that we won’t get to play another season of football together ever again,” he said.
Marion Local’s winning streak is the longest active streak in the country and ranks 19th all-time among high school football teams.
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