Marion Local finishes chase for perfection with win over Dalton for Division VII state title

Marion Local won its 14th state title and finished undefeated for the third straight year

CANTON, Ohio - Marion Local caught what it was chasing on Saturday in the OHSAA Division VII state championship game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.

That carrot on a string the Flyers hauled in? 

Perfection, as the Flyers finished off their third straight undefeated season with a 38-0 win over Dalton.

"We call it chasing perfection," Marion Local head coach Tim Goodwin said. "That's all we do. So anyone else that says anything that that seems like a big deal outside the locker room is nothing to us. Absolutely nothing."

The outside noise Goodwin refers to comes from the expectations placed on his team after winning the Division VI state championship last season and then dropping back down to Division VII this year.

But the Flyers remained steadfast in their preparation to win state titles, and Saturday gave them their 14th total, which extends their state record.

"We are so focused on improving and just going through the process," Goodwin said.

Saturday's process began on the defensive side of the ball, as Dalton drove the the Marion Local 37 before the Flyers got a fourth down stop on the game's opening possession.

Marion Local then drove 63 yards in eight plays and finished it off with an 8-yard touchdown run by senior Kyle Otte.

"They put together a nice drive there and we were able to get that stop," Goodwin said. "We liked our matchup going in with our offense against their defense. We thought that was a good matchup for us. So it's kind of how it played out."

The Flyers scored again on their second drive as Ethan Heitkamp scored from one yard out to make it 14-0 in the final minute of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, it was all about explosive plays for the Flyers.

Griffin Burns stepped in front of a pass by Dalton quarterback Colin Pearson, intercepted it and took it 80 yards for a touchdown.

And then on the ensuing Dalton possession, the Marion Local defense forced a punt that was fielded by Victor Hoelscher, who went 64 yards for a touchdown, the longest punt return touchdown in Division VII state championship game history.

"The pick-six obviously was a backbreaker when they had that nice drive, Griff made a great read on that," Goodwin said. "Then we came back with that punt return, so those two just overshadowed I think the rest of the game and and really gave us a big advantage."

Marion Local players celebrate winning the 2023 OHSAA Division VII state title. Photo credit: Jeff Harwell, SBLive Sports / Jeff Harwell, SBLive Sports

Coming into the game, Goodwin thought both teams had an advantage for different reasons. 

He believed his team had the advantage because of experience and thought Dalton had an advantage because of the proximity of Dalton to Canton, aong with the excitement of the Bulldogs making their first championship game appearance.

"The beginning of the game was very interesting to me, because here you have us that are used to playing here and then you have Dalton who's not used to it, but they're 20 minutes away and they're going to be all excited," Goodwin said. "I was just really curious how that was all going to play out so we were prepared to you know, to take a couple punches early."

Even with sustained success, Goodwin is never worried about complacency within the program. 

"The neat thing about high school sports is you have new seniors every year, and this is their year, and this is what they're going to remember," Goodwin said. "And at Marion Local they have reunions that people come back and you know, these guys have cousins that have won titles for other teams or for previous Marion teams or brothers. There's some accountability, like we gotta go and, you know, make everyone else proud."

And when this team goes to back to those reunions, they can talk about how they captured perfection.

-- Ryan Isley | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveoh

Marion Local 38, Dalton 0: Live update recap of Ohio high school football Division VII state championship game