Flyers look to avoid mistakes vs. Jays

By Jim Metcalfe, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Saturday, November 28, 2009 (3 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Marion Local was sitting at 3-5 through eight games of the 2009 gridiron season and possibly facing the prospect of not making the 2009 Ohio High School Athletic Association playoffs.
Five games later, they are riding a 5-game winning skein and preparing to face Midwest Athletic Conference rival St. John’s Saturday night in the Division VI state semifinals on the new turf at Wapakoneta’s Harmon Field.
One of those losses was a 35-14 decision at home versus St. John’s Oct. 2.
The differences between then and now for the Flyers (8-5)?
“We’re not turning the ball over; we absolutely killed ourselves with turnovers in those five losses. That was too much for our defense to try and hold teams down; we were giving teams points and in the Midwest Athletic Conference, that will cost you,” Flyer mentor Tim Goodwin explained. “When things started going bad, we started to lose our conference. The second is we got a couple of key players back from injury, including our senior quarterback, Jarren (Griesdorn). We have always tried to be a physical team, especially offensively, and be a good running team. That is just who we are. We’ve gotten better during the course of the season.
“The third is that we didn’t have many starters back at the beginning of the season and this is now week 14: the kids are now experienced and much more comfortable and confident at the varsity level. We are much more mentally ready after having gone through what we went through as a team this year. We got beaten down but we never gave up or quit; we kept battling and we are mentally tougher because of it.
“Defensively, we have continued to take steps each week. We continue to play at a higher and higher level. What helps us there is the offense tightening down its play and not putting the defense in bad situations.”
Junior tailback Niles Keller (1,400 yards rushing; 97 yards in last week’s 27-0 pasting of Fort Loramie in the regional finals) and Griesdorn (1,000 yards passing, including 226 yards and 3 scores last week) are the standard-bearers for the Flyer offense. The defense is built around its core of linebackers.
Preparing for St. John’s won’t be an easy task for the Flyers.
“St. John’s is one of those special teams this year. They are thew defending champions in Division VI and to run the table in the MAC, as good as it is year after year, makes you a special team in my mind,” Goodwin added. “We have done well in the playoffs but they were not St. Johns or Coldwater or any of those teams we played during our losing streak.
“They aren’t doing anything different than from the first time we prepared for them; they are just doing things better. The one guy that we must get a handle on is Wes Ulm. On third downs, he is a conversion machine; he makes things happen with his arm and his legs. He has a lot of weapons surrounding him. Their special teams have made a huge difference in some of their games. I know against Coldwater, those changed the game in their favor.
“Our game plan must be to not have those mistakes we made in the earlier game. Special teams will be huge: field position is so important in a game like this. Many times, those are the game-changing plays.”
Game time Saturday is 7 p.m.