Saturday, September 15th, 2007

Flyers all alone on top of MAC

By Randy Bruns
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

Marion Local quarterback Chris Stucke, with ball, steps up in the pocket looking for a receiver downfield with Parkway defenders closing in during their Midwest Athletic Conference contest on Friday night. Marion Local handed Parkway its first loss of the season, 35-13 as the Flyers are now 4-0.

ROCKFORD - For the third straight week, the Marion Local Flyers took on an undefeated and highly-touted opponent, and for the third straight week, the Blue and Gold took care of business.
After spotting the Parkway Panthers the game's opening score, the Flyers reeled off 35 unanswered points en route to a 35-13 thrashing of the Panthers.
Marion Local moves to 4-0 on the year and sits alone a top the Midwest Athletic Conference with a 3-0 league record. Parkway falls to 3-1 overall and 2-1 in league play.
Perhaps buoyed by its early season success, the fired up Parkway squad took the opening kick and drove 79 yards for a quick score. Jordan Thompson found Josh Fisher on a 38-yard strike to start the drive, and nine plays later the duo hooked up again, this time on a 19-yard touchdown pass. The point-after kick failed, but the Panthers held a 6-0 lead.
Marion responded with a long drive of its own, as it also started on its own 21-yard line. It wasn't without drama, as the visitors converted on two fourth down situations - one from their own territory - to keep the drive alive. A 23-yard pass from Chris Stucke to Tyler Obringer brought the ball into Panther territory and six plays later, Luke Homan bulled into the end zone. After Dan Fortkamp's point-after split the uprights, the Flyers held a 7-6 lead.
The Flyer defense then forced a punt, and it took just two plays for the visitors to find the end zone again. Ben Schaefer gained 38 yards on the last play of the first quarter, and Stucke found Jason Wolters for a 21-yard scoring strike on the next play to give the Flyers a 14-6 advantage.
Things got wacky after that, as both teams entered the turnover zone.
Heavy pressure from the Marion front line and linebackers put Thompson on his heels and forced some ill-advised tosses. The Marion secondary was up to the task, as it picked off Thompson on three straight Parkway drives. The visitors couldn't capitalize, though, as two of their drives ended prematurely on an interception and a fumble.
When the Panthers turned the ball over on downs late in the half, the Flyers worked quickly for another score. Stucke hit Wolters and Marcus Moeller on a pair of big gainers, and after an acrobatic catch by Wolters at the four-yard line, Schaefer swept in for a touchdown that gave the Flyers a 21-6 halftime advantage.
After an exchange of punts to start the second half, Marion put an exclamation point on the game on its next drive. A pair of runs by Schaefer and Moeller netted 11 yards apiece, and Schaefer cleaned up on the next play by going 20 yards untouched for his second score of the game.
The Parkway air attack was feast or famine, as Thompson connected on 12 of his 27 passes for 214 yards, but was picked off five times, including two by Marion's Dan Fortkamp.
"We were a little disappointed in (the defensive backs) early on, but when you play the style of defense we play, it's a risk-reward type of thing," said Marion coach Tim Goodwin. "We got rewarded a few times, but we took some risk to get there, too. They competed well, which is the important thing."
Parkway coach Ed Kuhn thought that a few of the picks were the direct result of Marion's blitz schemes.
"They're a good football team," said Parkway coach Ed Kuhn of the Flyers. "They're big up front and they're fast. We just didn't handle the pressure up front which is what I was afraid of."
Marion got good balance out of its offense, as it rushed for 228 yards and passed for 162. Wideout Jason Wolters came through with a breakout game, as the junior pulled in five passes for a game-high 105 yards.
"It seems like Chris has found a comfort zone with Jason, and they're working really well together," said Goodwin. "It's not like we're calling all those plays with Jason as the number-one option, but they're comfortable with each other and it's working."
Despite the disappointing loss, Kuhn thinks his Panthers have plenty of better days ahead of them.
"I'm going to have to look at the film to find some positives, but our guys are going to come back from this," said Kuhn. "They're going to overcome this by working hard. There's a lot of football left and we can't hang our heads. It's time to move on."
Parkway will try to get back to its winning ways next week when it visits New Bremen, while Marion will host Minster.
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

Parkway's Josh Fisher, top right, catches a touchdown pass in between Marion Local's Troy Prenger, 17, and Marcus Moeller, bottom, during their Midwest Athletic Conference contest on Friday night. Marion Local defeated Parkway, 35-13.

Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard

Marion Local's Niles Keller, 34, tries to find running room as Parkway's Aron Osborne, 81, dives to make the tackle.

Additional online stories on this date
ST. MARYS - A picture of smiling children waving American flags outside a U.S. airbase in Al Asad, Iraq, while friendly Arabic men warmly greet U.S. military personnel is not the portrait of war-ravaged Iraq Americans are used to. [More]
ST. HENRY - The St. Henry Redskin football team recovered from their first loss last week to Marion Local in a big way as they demolished the New Bremen Cardinals, 42-6, in Midwest Athletic Conference play on Homecoming Night at the Wally Post Athletic Complex. [More]
Subscriber and paid stories on this date
Work is underway on Celina's new water treatment facility and city officials are negotiating with Ohio EPA officials on an extension of the city's Dec. 31 deadline.
Poor supervision, bad judgment and a lack of instruction all play roles in the rising number of all-terrain vehicle (ATV) injuries and deaths to youngsters across the country.
Mercer County employees will see an expansion of their health insurance benefits to include more mental illness issues, county commissioners decided Thursday.
VAN WERT - Valiant defensive efforts kept Celina close in its losses through the first three games of the season, but it was a different story for the Green and White on Friday night at Eggress Stadium.
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
Fort Recovery used a 20-point second quarter to put its game with Versailles out of reach in posting a 33-20 win over the Tigers at Hole Field in Versailles.
ST. MARYS - The actual words may not have been spoken, but the phrase "shooting yourself in the foot" described the first half for St. Marys on Friday.
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
Coldwater got two defensive scores from Mark Steinbrunner to improve to 3-1 on the season with a 37-8 win over Anna in Midwest Athletic Conference action at Booster Field in Shelby County.
MINSTER - Coming into Friday night's contest, the Minster Wildcats had lost 11 straight games to the Delphos St. John's Blue Jays, with many of the recent contests being very close games.
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
Ottawa-Glandorf stayed among the leaders in the Western Buckeye League with a 21-0 win over Wapakoneta at Titan Stadium on Friday.