Division VI State Championship: Marion Local (15-0) vs Kirtland (15-0)

[CJK84]

Great civility in this thread. Kirtland posters are always reasonable - they don't shove their success in your face, and they readily give props to other teams and other teams' players.

And LaVerde and his Hornets' program seem to be as classy as they get. You're all a credit to the Kirtland community.

 

[bigkat]

So quick little facts on Kirtland so far in the playoffs in 5 games

1,834 yards collectively rushing
195 passing
Outscored opponents
200-18 (only 6 points against starting defense)
Kirtland starting defense has only given up 18 all season.

These kids are on a mission. That loss last year to Versailles hit them hard.

you are going to have to pass the ball to beat the Steiners.... and the Line is going to have to protect your QB... looking forward to watching should be a heckva game...

 

[fini316]

Great civility in this thread. Kirtland posters are always reasonable - they don't shove their success in your face, and they readily give props to other teams and other teams' players.

And LaVerde and his Hornets' program seem to be as classy as they get. You're all a credit to the Kirtland community.

Ditto for Marion Local. Both programs and fans are as classy as they get. Both coaches (LaVerde and Goodwin) demand and expect their players to play with class

 

[Raylan_Givens]

Great civility in this thread. Kirtland posters are always reasonable - they don't shove their success in your face, and they readily give props to other teams and other teams' players.

And LaVerde and his Hornets' program seem to be as classy as they get. You're all a credit to the Kirtland community.

Ditto for Marion Local. Both programs and fans are as classy as they get. Both coaches (LaVerde and Goodwin) demand and expect their players to play with class

This was my first thought on Sunday when the thread went up, but thought I should wait a day or so to see what happens. Very similar to both of these teams' play on the field, their fans are outstanding!

 

[Bball216]

Great civility in this thread. Kirtland posters are always reasonable - they don't shove their success in your face, and they readily give props to other teams and other teams' players.

And LaVerde and his Hornets' program seem to be as classy as they get. You're all a credit to the Kirtland community.

Thanks for the kind words. I think Kirtland fans are that way because we know how hard the kids work. Sucess at Kirtland is not a given - its earned. They also NEVER look ahead or take any opponent for granted. You do not get to this point in the season and not have a high quality team on the other sidelines. Plus this is high school football at its best. Two evenly matched teams playing for all the marbles.

 

[Captain_Cavman]

But they are fast, strong, and swarm to the ball

"Swarm"...Pun intended

 

[Captain_Cavman]

I think this game will come down to 1 thing. Can Goodwin adjust on the fly. My answer would be most likely yes. But we saw Newark Catholic try to stop the run last year, so he opened the playbook and threw the ball. This then opened the run up. Will he take what Kirtland gives him and use multiple formations? Everyone knows what Kirtland will do, but will Marion be able to adjust to stop it? In 2015 Marion had effectively shut down Kirtlands run game but then they ran the same play for what seemed like 75% of the time the second half and never adjusted to it. This allowed Kirtland to pop off big run after big run. Can Marion adjust their blitz packages on the fly? I think this will hinge more on how Marion adjusts to Kirtland rather than the other way around because Marion just doesn't play offenses like Kirtlands all the time.

I'm sure Goodwin has a copy of last year's Versailles/Kirkland game.

 

[fini316]

"Swarm"...Pun intended

Wish I could say the pun was intended, but I’m not that clever

 

[TriangleMan]

Great civility in this thread. Kirtland posters are always reasonable - they don't shove their success in your face, and they readily give props to other teams and other teams' players.

And LaVerde and his Hornets' program seem to be as classy as they get. You're all a credit to the Kirtland community.

If we could get a few more Kirtland posters to adopt the hornet avatar of @fini316 and @Kirtland4580 , that'd be great.

 

[VTJGball]

totally agree ......... really miss seeing the st. henry and delphos st. johns teams this late in the season ..........any insights into those programs ... ?? coaches leaving ......... players moving around ........ ??? community support has to still be there ......

St. Henry might have been 2nd best team in D7 behind ML last year. They have a tough 9 grade team coming up.

 

[Msfootball]

Kirtland has been in the state finals 11 out of the last 12 seasons
Marion Local has been in the state finals 11 out of the last 12 seasons

Just another reason to be pumped up about these two programs being on the field together.

 

[big medicine]

With all this sportsmanship and mutual respect being flung around on this thread, I have to admit I really do get a kick out of when a new school manages to string some wins together and their fans come on here warning that none of us has ever seen the likes of what is about to rain down upon us in this weeks game. Too much class and history for such carrying on here.

 

[Bluestreak1980]

With all this sportsmanship and mutual respect being flung around on this thread, I have to admit I really do get a kick out of when a new school manages to string some wins together and their fans come on here warning that none of us has ever seen the likes of what is about to rain down upon us in this weeks game. Just too much history for such carrying on here.

I can assure you after the game and we have the results the mutual respect will continue. This won’t be the last time these two programs see one another.

 

[lchsman]

Thanks for the kind words. I think Kirtland fans are that way because we know how hard the kids work. Sucess at Kirtland is not a given - it’s earned. They also NEVER look ahead or take any opponent for granted. You do not get to this point in the season and not have a high quality team on the other sidelines. Plus this is high school football at its best. Two evenly matched teams playing for all the marbles.

“Thanks for the kind words” lol. So now you’re part of the Kirtland Football Community?? What happened to VASJ and Euclid??

Good luck to our friends up the road on 306! This should be the best game of the weekend! Bring home the title!

 

[Thavoice]

Spectrum 1 is apparenly doing a piece on 'Freddy The Flyer' for the telecast

 

[Insane92]

Anybody know if WCSM 96.7 is carrying this game or anybody else?

 

[serpico]

Anybody know if WCSM 96.7 is carrying this game or anybody else?

Yes, WCSM is covering both the Marion Local and New Bremen games.

 

[Bball216]

“Thanks for the kind words” lol. So now you’re part of the Kirtland Football Community?? What happened to VASJ and Euclid??

Good luck to our friends up the road on 306! This should be the best game of the weekend! Bring home the title!

My nephews play for Kirtland. I actually follow them more then VASJ or Euclid.

 

[Bball216]

I was asked what would be the best game at this weekends championships. I feel it's this game and the Hoban vs TCC game - both should be well played and hard hitting.

 

[PantherSkin]

Yes, WCSM is covering both the Marion Local and New Bremen games.

93.1 The Fan out of Lima has both games as well.

 

[Raylan_Givens]

WQKT out of Wooster (https://wqkt.com/) broadcasts all the games online as well. Really good sports crew & they're neutral (if that matters to you).

 

[ex_dc_atc]

I'll go:

Marion Local 14
Kirtland 7

 

[fini316]

I'll go:

Marion Local 14
Kirtland 7

I’ve been try to avoid predictions…plus what do I know:
Kirtland 21
Marion Local 7

 

[Deleted75680]

Hornets 5.
Steiners 3.

Think Josh Allen fumble vs the vikes

Good season flyers.

Do not see this game close at all, Steiners with another running clock. Michigan fight song will ring in the ears for a long time.

 

[D4fan]

I don't like to make predictions about teams I've not seen in person. However, MAC vs non MAC, somewhat easier to predict.

I doubt Kirtland is held scoreless.

I will go ML 78
Kirtland 10

 

[gneiss rocks]

One thing I would bet on is that anyone predicting a large margin of victory is from neither school.
Probably comes down to turnovers and special teams.
I'll go with ML 26 Kirtland 24

 

[bigkat]

93.1 The Fan out of Lima has both games as well.

wondering back when the Cards played the Steiners, they put 16 points on the board, were they able to run on them, how about a little analysis from that game

 

[wildcat71]

Just curious about something. The ethnic background of the Flyers is made up of mostly German catholic with a sprinkling of eastern European. What's the background of

Do not see this game close at all, Steiners with another running clock. Michigan fight song will ring in the ears for a long time.

Another reason state playoffs should not return to OSU....blasphemy, a school playing ttun fight song!! lol

 

[Captain_Cavman]

11 goose eggs out of 15 games.
33 total points allowed thru 15 games
4 of the 5 playoff games were goose eggs
Allowed only 3 points thru the playoffs

Going to be interesting to finally see the Flyer defense tested.

 

[Raylan_Givens]

How great are these programs? One of them has a freshman starting at QB and it barely generates a “yeah, so what?” For just about any other title game matchup that would dominate the conversation.

That said, ML wins Saturday. And then, for the next 3 years, small school fans will be saying “how is Laverde still qb at Kirtland? He’s been there for what seems like forever!”