Marion Local becomes third team to win four straight state titles

On Saturday morning, the Maria Stein Marion Local Flyers joined some elite company when it comes to Ohio state high school football. By winning their fourth straight state title, 41-0 over the Norwalk St. Paul Flyers, Marion Local became only the third school ever to accomplish the feat joining Cleveland St. Ignatius (1991-95) and Newark Catholic (1984-87).

Saturday also marked only the second Division VII state championship.

Head coach Tim Goodwin said they wanted to get off to a quick start and make St. Paul uncomfortable.

"We wanted to make them do something they didn't want to do offensively," Goodwin said. "We wanted to send a message just like we do every game. 'Hey, you're playing a different animal this week' and put some doubt in their mind."

His players obliged.

Prior to the game, senior running back Jacy Goettemoeller held the record for longest touchdown run in a Div. VII state title game with an 11-yard run from last year's game. On just the second play from the line of scrimmage, Goettemoeller broke his own record by going 49 yards on a handoff from senior quarterback Dustin Rethman.

On Marion Local's second drive of the game, Goettemoeller capped off an eight play 77 yard drive with another long touchdown run, this time from 46 yards out. Goettemoeller had 106 yards after just the first quarter and ended with 161 yards on 12 carries to go along with three touchdowns.

"I just came out and tried to play my hardest," Goettemoeller said of his big day. "The did team well. I have to thank my team, the offensive line and the coaches."

Marion Local was off and running and they never looked back.

The next drive, it was Rethman and junior wide receiver Hunter Wilker doing the record breaking.

While draped with St. Paul defenders, Wilker pulled in a jump ball thrown by Rethman to give Marion Local a 21-0 lead following the extra point. The 33-yard touchdown reception by Wilker broke the Div. VII record for longest scoring pass previously held by Goettemoeller.

Marion Local kept the pedal down and jumped out to a 35-0 lead by halftime.

Coming into the game, Marion Local had only given up 14 points throughout the playoffs. After posting their second state title shutout in a row and remaining the only team to score in a Div. VII state final game, Marion Local led the 2014 state finalists in points allowed outscoring their opponents 220 to 14.

Marion Local celebrate their fourth straight championship. (Photo by Tony Tribble)

"Defense played pretty well all day. Pretty much stopped them," said Goodwin. "A couple plays they had some success with. And then we put our second group out there that fourth quarter and our sideline was pretty jacked up trying to get that shutout."

Saturday's game marked Marion Local's 37th straight win and improves their all-time best playoff winning percentage in the state playoffs to .865 (58-9).

Marion Local's eighth title ties them for third most all-time with Newark Catholic and Youngstown Cardinal Mooney trailing only Cleveland St. Ignatius (11) and Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller (9).

When asked what it means becoming only the fourth school to win four straight titles, Goodwin attributed it to the leadership of his seniors.

"All you have to do is really look at the accomplishments of this team and really these seniors," Goodwin said. "You know, they've won four in a row and you can say 'They dressed for four in a row', but these guys played not for four, but for three. These guys were the bulk of our team for three years, not just role players these guys were the main part of our team for three years. I would say their accomplishments are up there with any class that's ever been through."

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