Marion Local's Goodwin honored by Bengals

CINCINNATI -- Tuesday was the 19th wedding anniversary for Tim and Dawn Goodwin. The couple spent its anniversary morning and early afternoon driving from Maria Stein to Cincinnati and then back, about 230 miles round trip.

The Goodwins made the trip south from Mercer County so that Tim could be honored as the 2013 recipient of the Paul Brown Excellence in Coaching Award during the Bengals annual pre-training camp media luncheon. Tim Goodwin has been the head coach at Marion Local High School for the past 15 seasons and last season led the Flyers to a 15-0 record and a seventh state title.

Shortly after the luncheon ended, the Goodwins were back in the car, headed home. Tim Goodwin had a seven-on-seven scrimmage to attend.

"We started dating when I was coaching in the fall," said Goodwin of his wife. "I think that helped a little bit to understand what coaches do and what we go through, but obviously she's done a great job with our kids and she's been a rock for me."

The award brings with it a $5,000 donation from the Bengals to the winning school's athletic department.

Goodwin said he got a phone call from the Bengals in early June.

"It was totally out of the blue and it caught me off guard," said Goodwin. "It was a nice honor. It really was."

The Flyers won their third consecutive state title last December, beating Trimble 33-0 in the first Division VII championship game at Massillon's Paul Brown Tiger Stadium. The program is 53-9 in the postseason, a winning percentage of .855 that is the best in state history. Combined with Coldwater's Division V championship earlier the same day in Massillon, Marion Local's win brought the total of state football titles won by Midwest Athletic Conference teams to 30.

"It's all about competition. Our kids grow up competing against kids from other towns," said Goodwin. "Our kids just compete and they compete like crazy. They're willing to do the work on top of that. It's a lot of fun playing those teams in our league.

"We're unique in a small school area conference where if you don't show up to play, you're going to get beat. I don't think there are a lot of good teams in small conferences that have to go through what we go through, and later on in the season it pays off."