MARIA STEIN – Two blocked kicks that included one late in the game that was returned for a touchdown helped to push the New Bremen Cardinals past MAC rival Marion Local 24-17 Friday night and into their first state semifinals appearance.
Tied at 17-17 with under two minutes to play, New Bremen senior Dan Homan sprinted through the left side of the Marion Local line and blocked a punt from Flyer punter Dylan Fleck before scooping the loose football at the ten yard line and racing in with 1:30 to go in the contest to put his team on top for good by a touchdown.
Earlier in the contest the Cardinals were successful in keeping points off of the scoreboard for the host blue and gold as David Homan blocked a 28 yard attempted field goal by kicker Kevin Partington to keep his own team within a touchdown of the defending state champions.
Though the Flyers would get a chance late in the contest to draw even, the Cardinals defense would force a turnover on downs and later when David Homan jumped in front of a pack of receivers to pick off a Kyle Otte throw to finish off the victory.
On the fourth down play the Flyers were forced to turnover the football on downs as a pass was ruled incomplete by the officials on the field.
The last time New Bremen defeated the Flyers came on October 9th, 2009 which spanned not only seven Marion Local state championship victories, but also 4,046 days.
Marion Local opened up the contest with the football and used just a trio of plays before earning their first score of the night when QB Peyton Otte hooked up with tailback Drew Seitz who split a pair of defenders and raced 77 yards to put his team on top 7-0 with just :53 gone.
New Bremen pulled within 7-3 with 1:14 before the end of the first quarter on a 27-yard field goal by Owen Gable for their first marker of the contest.
Kevin Partington’s 30-yard field goal pushed the Flyers lead back to seven with 2:36 before the half at 10-3 but was short lived as the Cardinals took just four plays on their next drive to go 45 yards and into the endzone on an 11-yard rush by Mitchell Hays with 1:29 remaining.
Before the contest New Bremen won the toss and chose to defer to the second half so they would find themselves opening the third quarter with a chance to go ahead of the Flyers. Unfortunately for the visitors their time with the football came to an end when Zach Bertke was stripped by the blue and gold defense inside his own territory.
Behind QB Peyton Otte the Flyers nabbed a pair of first downs on back to back plays before a five yard scamper from Drew Seitz with 7:45 remaining in the stanza for a 17-10 lead.
With the win the Cardinals improve to 8-2 on the season and avenge an early season loss in the regular campaign to the Flyers back in September and put an end to a streak of ten straight losses that includes last seasons 27-0 playoff setback.
Next weekend New Bremen will travel to a site to be announced on Sunday afternoon by the OHSAA for a state semifinals battle against Lima Central Catholic who dispatched Hopewell-Loudon 62-20 at Spartan Stadium in a regional finals battle.
Marion Local ends their 2020 season with a 9-1 record and sees their record run of nine straight finals appearances come to an end as well as their previously unbeaten streak against Division 7 teams in the playoffs that stood at 41-0 all-time.