The game of the year in Ohio small school football has arrived.
On Friday night, Marion Local (12-0) and St. Henry (11-1) will meet in Wapakoneta in the Division VII, Region 28 regional final. The winner will advance to the state final four.
Of course, the narratives here are special.
Marion Local, the squad from Maria Stein, enters the night having won 76 games in a row as a program. That's the nation's longest active winning streak.
When these teams met way back in Week 3, it was a thrilling 21-14 win for the Flyers, handing St. Henry its only loss. And even that night, the feeling was that this rematch was only a matter of time.
Marion Local has won 15 state championships, including the last four. St. Henry has won six, but not since 2006. The winner of this game will be viewed as the favorite to take two more victories to the trophy.
In this season, the epitome of the MAC's never-ending power is that these two conference foes meet in a D-VII regional final while up in D-VI, it's Coldwater and Anna clashing.
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The buzz since that Week 3 meeting was not only that Marion Local and St. Henry might meet again. It's that the Redskins might be the team that ends the streak.
There's no one more knowledgeable on this part of the state than Press Pros legend Sonny Fulks. This is what he predicts:
This is the game…the one countless people have talked about since Week 3 of the season and Marion’s comeback from a 14-7 halftime deficit to beat St. Henry, 21-14. Those people have almost unanimously said, “St. Henry will get ’em if they play again in the regional final.” And they might, admittedly. Credit to St. Henry for a long-awaited turnaround towards its roots. Credit the Redskins for building towards a predictable football future, with some-sixty-plus seventh and eighth graders playing football and swelling the high school roster back to the glory days of the seventies. Credit quarterback Charlie Werling, who would be a lot of people’s choice for MAC Player of The Year. Gifted in both skill and leadership, Werling is the straw that every successful high school program must have to stir the drink.
But credit Marion Local, as well, for being more than 12-0 and a string of 76 consecutive wins. Because if I was playing Marion I would be most concerned over their last four wins, two shutouts, and an average of 9 points given up at the time of the year when those numbers mean the most. It’s true that Marion has not been enormously challenged in those four games. But the point is…that the Flyers are once again not playing against a given opponent as much as they are against the game, itself. This is a young team, as we’ve written, that Tim Goodwin has warned might take a bit longer to emerge than in years past. But he believed they’d get there, and here they are, showing the kind of instincts that have carried them for years, including the confidence in being #1. And at this point I’m not thinking about Week 3 and that comeback win. I’m thinking about playing against the game, and not St. Henry. And that said, it’s still true that the Redskins are bigger, they’re strong, and have a run game that can dominant. But Marion can still find predictable ways to win against a challenge like Coldwater, or Anna, or even Versailles, despite the controversy. And if you’re still harboring the Versailles game, don’t take it for granted that this is the same Marion team, because it isn’t. Brayden Mescher is their Charlie Werling in my eyes, and in typical Flyers fashion the younger skill players have begun to make plays in his likeness. There’s the dependable run game. And then there’s the game-breaking option of #4, Cale Neagle. I’ll be impressed by whoever wins, but I’m always intrigued over how long Marion Local has managed to stay Marion Local. And for that reason how can you not pick them again? This week, just like in Week 3…by a score.
Fulks really does sum it up in that last line.
How can you pick against the team that has won 76 games in a row?
Until they lose, they seemingly cannot lose.
St. Henry has a chance at the most legendary of victories on Friday night, and led by quarterback Charlie Werling, their chances are real.
But Marion Local is Marion Local, and for half a decade now, that has been what it's taken to win football games.
This one should be an absolute doozy.
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