Marion Local, based out of Maria Stein, Ohio, has won football games in a lot of different ways during the nation’s longest active high school football winning streak.
Never like this.
On a fourth down and trailing to Midwest Athletic Conference rival Versailles, the Flyers flung up a prayer.
The prayer appeared to come up short. The football was nearly snagged but instead fell to the turf.
The Marion Local receiver did fall onto the football, though, and the officials ruled it a catch.
Video replays on social media clearly showed it should’ve been called an incomplete pass.
Wow. This view is even worse
— Ohio Divided (@BuckeyeNatty) September 27, 2025
Versailles deserved to win that game https://t.co/OAEDcLu1On pic.twitter.com/eZpUI1OF8G
Marion Local completed that drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-5.
The final score: Flyers 20, Versailles 19.
The nation’s longest winning streak moved to 70 wins in a row.
If the pass had been called incomplete, Marion Local technically could’ve gotten a stop to get the ball back, but Versailles would’ve only needed to move it a bit to run out the clock.
There are all sorts of life lesson takeaways here about life not being fair.
The bummer is this: No one wants a game to be decided by a call. Marion Local and Versailles are two incredibly proud small-school football programs, and they deserved a classic contest to be viewed only in the context of what the players on the field did.
But instead, every win from 70 onward in this streak will feel just a bit different.
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