By Corey Perez
CANTON, OHIO – There are few things in Ohio that get communities as excited as high school football does, there’s countless communities that embody this love for football.
Few carry the weight that the Marion Local Flyers do, as the Flyers have 10 state championships to move into sole possession of 2nd place in the entire state of Ohio, just one behind Division I powerhouse St. Ignatius.
Not only does Marion Local claim state titles, but they also rarely lose in the playoffs at all as they are 72-10 in the playoffs, ten losses in 82 playoff games is good for the best winning percentage in the entire state. Usually teams scoff at the lower divisions but Marion Local is consistently one of the best programs in the entire state of Ohio.
Kirtland defeated Marion Local in 2015 for the state championship, and it was almost as if the Flyers used today’s 34-11 victory to avenge the loss, senior Ben Homan remembers that 2015 loss, and Saturday they never looked back.
“Big motivation, cause they kept getting on us that if we were slacking off, then it was gonna happen again, what happened two years ago,” Homan said.
Kirtland got the scoring going on their opening series of the game with 33 yard Dylan Aquila field goal. Unfortunately for the Hornets this would be their biggest success on offense until a late touchdown pass from Dylan Fulco to Joey Torok.
On the flipside of that this is a Kirtland program that has been made coming to state championships a yearly tradition as they have been here six of the last seven seasons.
As disappointing as today was for Kirtland they return two thousand yard rushers in juniors Torok (1,404 yards) and Jake Neibecker (1,452,). Head coach Tiger LaVerde is gonna enjoy this season but be ready for next season.
“I know these kids, they will be working hard to get back,” LaVerde said. “The junior class is a special group. Our goal is to win week one next year.”
Marion Local dominated this game from the time Kirtland kicked their field goal, the rest of the game was controlled by the Flyers. They went into halftime with a 20-3 lead but knew Kirtland wasn’t going to quit, one reason Marion Local came out ready to finish the job was Notre Dame commit senior DT John Dickerson,
“We were just getting amped up, and trying to keep going,” Dickerson said. “Two years ago we came out dead and you can’t let the team capitalize on you being dead. So we had to come out amped up.”
The Flyers came out amped up for sure as they used a 13 play drive to score on the first series of the half and take a even more commanding 27-3 lead.
Kirtland was able to get a first down, before eventually having to punt the ball back to Marion Local late in the 3rd quarter. Marion Local again controlled the ball and used a double digit drive to score early in the fourth quarter and force a running clock as they held a 34-3 lead.
When the 2018 OHSAA Division VI playoffs begin next fall it would be safe to assume these two schools will again be vying for state supremacy.
These two programs are both extremely well coached and have a hotbed of talent in their respective communities, so although the Kirtland Hornets lost this morning they will be back and don’t be shocked if it’s against these same Marion Local Flyers.
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