MARIA STEIN, Ohio — Even chaos bends toward the usual ending in Maria Stein. Marion Local fumbled the opening kickoff, survived five combined first-half turnovers and still beat Minster 27-9 on Friday night, November 13, at Booster Stadium in an OHSAA Division VII, Region 28 semifinal, according to Press Pros Magazine’s game report. The Mansfield News Journal’s statewide scoreboard, The Columbus Dispatch’s scoreboard and High School On SI’s statewide scoreboard all confirmed the 27-9 final.
The bizarre start set the tone. Minster recovered that opening fumble and Marion Local’s defense held the Wildcats to a field goal and a 3-0 lead, Press Pros Magazine reported — and then the Flyers scored the next 27 points, slower than usual but, in Press Pros Magazine’s framing, as surely as ever. It was the final game at Booster Stadium for a senior class that never lost there.
Camden Griesdorn was the whole offense, again. Press Pros Magazine reported Griesdorn carried 31 times for 164 yards and all four Marion Local touchdowns: a 1-yard score in the first half after a Flyer takeaway set up a short field, a 2-yard score in the third quarter at the end of a drive he opened with a 32-yard cutback run, a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter for a 21-3 lead, and an 18-yard knockout punch late.
“We just kept pounding,” Marion Local coach Tim Goodwin told Press Pros Magazine. “It’s like a sledgehammer against a rock. You just gotta keep pounding it, and eventually it’ll crack.” Goodwin added to Press Pros Magazine that Griesdorn’s best physical attribute is his eyes: “He’s got really good vision.”
Minster (8-4) played the standard as hard as anyone has this season. Press Pros Magazine reported the Wildcats were outgained by only 106 yards, committed no penalties and forced the game to stay strange for a half — but quarterback Carson Kaylor, harassed all night, completed just 12 of 24 passes for 96 yards with an interception before a late scoring drive, and his rushing total was held to seven yards on 12 attempts. His late 32-yard touchdown pass to senior Tyler Bergman produced the 27-9 final.
“Man I’m proud of our kids,” Minster coach Seth Whiting told Press Pros Magazine. “They played unbelievably hard … couldn’t ask anything more out of them … We put ourselves in situations to be in this thing and win it, and we just came up short.” Minster’s misfortune is structural: it has now played Marion Local twice in a season for the third time in four years, Press Pros Magazine reported, including a 28-7 regular-season loss in October.
The Flyers’ reward is a familiar one. Press Pros Magazine reported Marion Local beat next week’s opponent, New Bremen, 42-7 with a running clock in Week 8 — but the regional final also carries last year’s scar, a regional-final loss to St. Henry that the Flyers have waited a year to answer for, even if a different MAC rival stands in the way this time.
What happens next: Marion Local (12-0) faces New Bremen, which beat Riverside 40-33 in Friday’s other Region 28 semifinal, in the Division VII, Region 28 final on Friday, November 20, at a site the OHSAA announces on Sunday, November 15. The winner advances to the state semifinals on November 27.