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[Rocketcorner News]

By Tom Galdeen

Maria Stien: The Marion Local Flyers hosted the Fort Loramie Redskins in the first round of the 2013 football playoffs on Saturday, November 9. The 2 schools are separated by less than 20 miles, but have never played each other on the gridiron. Marion Local came in to the game as defending state champs and they kept their title repeat dream alive with a 63-14 drubbing of the Redskins.

Fort Loramie started at their 20 yard line after the opening kick went into the end zone. After gaining one first down, they were forced to punt. The Flyers set up on their own 33 yard line with Dustin Rethman under center. Rethman started out on fire as he connected on 5 out of his first 7 passes, including 29 and 19 yard hook-ups with Hunter Wilker, the latter went to the 10 yard line. After an offsides penalty on Loramie, Adam Bertke ran the ball in from 6 yards out. Peyton Kremer’s PAT was good and ML took a 7-0 lead. The ensuing kick again went into the endzone giving FL the ball at their 20 yard line. Three Delaunte Thornton runs netted only 9 yards and the Redskins were forced to punt. Peyton Kremer blocked the punt and recovered it in the endzone for a flyer TD. Kremer then kicked the PAT to give Marion a 14-0 lead. After Fort Loramie took possession after the kick-off, Tyler Kazmeier’s pass was intercepted by Nate Nagel to give the Flyers the ball back at their own 27 yard line. Marion kept the ball on the ground and Aaron Nietfeld took the ball into the end zone on a 4-yard run. The PAT made it 21-0 Flyers, still in the first quarter.

Fort Loramie took to the air on their next possession. Kazmeier hooked up with Craig Fullenkamp a couple times to get a first down. A 15 yard run by Thornton got the ball to the 47 yard line. A couple plays later, on the first play of the 2nd quarter, Kazmeier hit Fullenkamp down the middle for a 49 yard scoring pass. The PAT made the score 21-7. The Redskin defense gave FL a chance to get back in the game with a fumble recovery to give them field position at their own 43 yard line. A 16 yard Kazmeier pass to Troy Benanzer moved the ball to the 27. Three penalties on the next 4 snaps moved the ball back to the 39 yard line. Nagel then intercepted his 2nd pass of the night, giving the Flyers the ball at the 28 yard line. The Flyers moved the ball to the Redskins 46 yard line, where Wilker took off on a 42 yard counter play that got the ball down to the 4 yard line. Jacy Goettemoeller took it in from there to extend the Flyer’s lead to 28-7. Fort Loramie attempted to get back in the game with a long drive starting at their 26 yard line. Kazmeier connected on 6 of 7 passes on the drive, hitting Fullenkamp from 12 yards out. The PAT made it 28-14.

Marion Local took over after the kick off and it was Bertke’s turn to get the hot hand. He connected on 4 passes in a row, including a 38 yard strike to Troy Homan that moved the ball to the 8 yard line. A 3 yard Bertke run set up the 5 yard Bertke TD run that ended the first half scoring giving Marion Local a 35-14 halftime lead.

It was a pretty wild halftime. While the Flyer marching band was performing, the Marion Local volleyball team came into town and past the football field with a fire truck escort, celebrating their volleyball State Championship.

The 2nd half was all Flyers. Goettemoeller took the 2nd half kick-off and returned it 58 yards to the 32 yard line. After 3 runs garnered a first down at the 20, Bertke hit Homan again, for the 20 yard TD to give the Flyers a 42-14 lead. Loramie moved the ball to the 46 yard line. They gambled on 4th down, but came up short, turning the ball over to Marion at the 34 yard line. A 35 yard pass to Ryan Bruns moved the ball into Marion territory at their 31. A pass interference moved it to the 16. Goettemoeller ran the ball in from their, but it was called back for holding. That just delayed the inevitable as 4 plays later, Goettemoeller ran in from 6 yards out. The successful PAT moved the score to 49-14. Blake Benton then intercepted a Kazmeier pass. Bertke hit Bruns with a 13 yard scoring pass to extend the score to 56-14. Kazmeier was intercepted one more time by Nagel, giving him 3 interceptions on the night. Nietfeld ended the ensuing drive with a one yard scoring run to end the scoring at 63-14.