Marion Local steamrolls St. John's

DELPHOS - The Delphos St. John's homecoming queen received a boisterous cheer for her pregame speech.

But that would be one of the few times the Blue Jays' faithful shook the home-side bleachers.

Marion Local dominated play up front and rolled to a 42-0 victory over previously unbeaten Delphos St. John's on Friday at Stadium Park.

Marion Local controlled both lines of scrimmage from the first quarter. The Flyers ran for 256 yards and had 346 total yards. The Blue Jays were held to 60 yards on the ground and 64 total yards.

Marion Local running back Ben Smith led the way with 184 yards on 24 carries with a 2-yard touchdown.

"We were going to have to play an almost perfect football game and those are hard to play," Delphos St. Johh's coach Todd Schulte said. "I was impressed with every kid that stepped on the field for them tonight. At every phase of the game, they beat us.

"It came down to them being men, us being boys. They owned us up front, offense, defense, special teams, you name it. Their bus probably ran a whole lot better than our bus ran tonight."

Defending state champion Marion Local stands 5-1, 3-1 in the Midwest Athletic Conference. The Blue Jays are 5-1, 3-1 in the MAC.

Marion Local scored on all four of its first-half possessions to take a 28-0 halftime lead. After establishing the run early, the Flyers went to the air.

Quarterback Troy Prenger completed 5 of 8 for 90 yards and three touchdowns. Jason Wolters was on the receiving end of a 13 and 17-yard touchdown passes.

"We came out and played our best game of the year," Marion Local coach Tim Goodwin said. "The key to high school football is running the ball and stopping the run. That's still the key to high school football."

The first time the Flyers touched the ball they went 52 yards in nine plays for the score. Smith ran the ball seven times for 41 yards on the drive. His 2-yard score gave the Flyers a 7-0 lead.

It was more of Smith the next time Marion Local had the ball. He carried three times for 31 yards and set up a 3-yard touchdown run by Dillon Kremer to make it 14-0.

"The offensive line seemed like they were manhandling their defensive line," Smith said. "I think they came out strong at the beginning of the game."

Smith continually burst through sizeable holes. On the night, he had six runs for 10 or more yards, including runs of 23 and 51 yards.

The third time Marion Local had the ball, it converted two fourth-down plays on the 11-play, 65-yard scoring drive. Prenger hit a leaping Wolters in the right corner of the end zone to make it 21-0 with 7:12 left before the half.

Prenger's 22-yard touchdown pass to Kremer on a middle screen kicked the margin to 28-0 with 25 seconds left before halftime.

Defensively, Marion Local linebacker Kerry Roberts had 10 tackles, while linebacker Tyler Mescher had nine.

The Flyers held St. John's running back Jordan Leininger to 55 yards on nine carries.

"We just fly to the ball. That's what our defense does," Roberts said.