Overbearing opener: Mistake-prone Miners fall to hottest squad in Nation

Linton senior tailback Jesse Voigtschild (8) celebrates moving the chains with a physical run down the right sideline on the opening series. Linton lost 45-6 on Friday to Marion Local (Ohio) in Week 1. The captain scored the team’s lone touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Photo by Hunter Tickel

Marion Local looked to extinguish the Linton Stockton football flame as soon as the 2024 season uncorked.

The Flyers did just that to extend its nation-best winning streak to 49 games with a 45-6 win, including a six-touchdown edge after two quarters.

“Me and [senior lineman] Hank [Gennicks] are big on [leading],” senior running and defensive back Jesse Voigtschild said. “We do our best to try and keep the guys up. Out on the field tonight we were yelling the whole time trying to get everybody up. It’s hard to keep everyone’s morale up whenever they are getting killed every play. That’s not the best you will see us at. We’ll be back.”

Photo by Hunter Tickel Linton junior quarterback Paul Oliver (13) looks to maneuver around a stifling Marion Local defense. His team lost 45-6. He sustained a first half injury to his right shoulder and will be evaluated this week.

The Flyers, the most scintillating team in the country, paid dirt on the opening series.

It was a seven-yard pass to the outside from quarterback Justin Knouff to Victor Hoelscher, who reeled it in and used his quickness to beat the Miners to the right pylon.

Then came the floodgates.

The Miners initially mishandled the ensuing kickoff. This shaky beginning foreshadowed Linton’s ominous opener.

Junior quarterback Paul Oliver tossed a pair of interceptions. The second one came on a screen pass that dangled in the air and was reeled in by Marion senior linebacker Bryant Meier. Earlier in the series, Oliver took a hit that hobbled him and forced him to sit some snaps.

He took another knock on the next drive that stopped the action. He laid on his back on the field and was tended to by the Linton medical staff.

“Big thing on the ground was we had to be on the ground the whole time,” Voigtschild said of the game plan coming in. “We were trying to air it out. Paul went out early QB2 (Braylon McBride) was in, he does a great job. We had to adjust. We had to do a lot of plays that we’re not normally practicing.”

Coach Brian Oliver said that Paul, his son, has a right shoulder injury. His throwing shoulder was in a sling immediately postgame.

The Flyers’ speed swarming to the ball on defense and wideouts getting behind the Linton secondary was a potent combo.

“They had a way better pass defense than we anticipated on film,” Voigtschild said. “They got quick guys back there. They really got a nose for the ball. It was hard to get in the air,” he added. “They knew we were going to go to the ground. They stacked the box and it makes it pretty hard. They have really good inside [linebackers]. They were reading the pull. They knew where we were going.”

Photo by Hunter Tickel Linton seniors Jesse Voigtschild (8) and Braylon McBride (7) bring down a Marion Local (Ohio) ball carrier in the backfield on Friday. In the opener, the Flyers defeated the Miners 45-6.

The Flyers led 42-0 at the break to force a running clock.

“I never expect getting punched in the mouth but we got punched in the mouth a couple of times,” Brian said. “I was really hoping for a better showing for our guys but we were unable to do it. We made a lot of mistakes against a very goodteam.”

In the first half, Andrew Pohlman and Knouff combined for long hookups of 63 yards and 39 yards for scores. They stretched the field to put this game out of reach and their chemistry looked in midseason form on these deep looks.

The Miners got behind the eight ball early and never settled into a rhythm on either side of the ball to attempt to claw their way back.

The first half included a pair of miscues as junior Russell Goodman furiously ran downhill down the middle but coughed up the ball as a gang of Flyers jarred it loose. Later in the half, he had one of his punts blocked.

This gave the Flyers prime field position that fueled Marion going up by six touchdowns at the half to force a second-half running clock. The Flyers punched in their final score of the half as time expired when sophomore Seth Heitkamp plunged in from one yard.

The Flyers inserted backups in the closing half and didn’t cross the goal line again.

The Miners had a bad snap to begin the opening drive of the closing half, junior lineman Corey Andrews scooped it up. Goodman handled a long snap after it hopped on the Roy Williams Field grass and booted it away.

McBride, a senior, tossed an interception.

Next, the Miners put together their lone scoring drive of the day against a squad that shut out nearly half of its foes last year (seven).

First, the Miners needed a stop in their red zone to jump-start it.

After the Flyers had advanced the ball to the Linton 10 to open the fourth quarter, senior Hayden Feltner stepped in front of a wideout at the right front corner pylon for a pick and advanced it to midfield. Feltner came up with multiple grabs on offense, too, as the most targeted Miner wideout.

Voigtschild, the team’s most physical runners on the night, capitalized. He exploded loose with the short field on a 32-yard counter run to the right for the squad’s longest pickup.

Then, he capped it with the Miners’ opening 2024 score on a delayed handoff on 3rd-and-4 from the 6 with 8:16 left.

Photo by Hunter Tickel Senior wideout Hayden Feltner turns up field after securing a grab. The captain made a handful of catches, mostly on the left side. The defensive back recorded an interception near the goal line in the fourth quarter and returned it to the 50 that led to their lone score. Marion Local (Ohio) topped Linton 45-6 on Friday at Roy Williams Field in the season opener.

The Miners, who had more rushing yards than the Flyers in the first half, moved the ball on 3rd-and-long several times on the opening drive. It was one of their best sequences moving the chains.

The possession began on the 6 and concluded on the Marion 37 before a turnover on downs halted it after an incomplete pass by Paul.

“I’m about to go in there right now and I’m going to tell them, ‘Keep your heads up,’” Voigtschild said. “‘Yeah it was rough, but we didn’t come in here with our A game.’ I’d like to see it if we played them in Week 5. I think that we have a lot of work to do. We got a lot of potential on the team. We are just going to make sure they keep a positive outlook. I don’t want them to get bummed out and just kind of give up on the season. I’m just going to try to keep them up as much as I can.”

Brian said the miscues on both sides of the ball boiled down to the game flow of a wide margin, lack of communication and some nerves.

Voigtschild said the stamina of the team needs to improve moving forward.

“We have conditioning to do, I’m not gonna lie,” Voigtschild said. “We’ve been doing sprints but we’re going to have to up it. We’re going to have to get it going at practice. We got an intense fight because…me, myself, I was gassed. I’m playing two ways and I didn’t have the gas behind me to do it. I should have performed better, too.”

Marion Local 45, Linton 6

SCORING PLAYS

First Quarter

Justin Knouff 7-yard pass to Victor Hoelscher, 7:04 (Carson Bills kick).

Knouff 63-yard pass to Andrew Pohlman, :19 (Bills kick).

Second Quarter

Knouff 39-yard pass to Pohlman, 8:41 (Bills kick).

Hess 7-yard rush, 6:01 (Bills kick).

Drew Lause 5-yard rush, 2:35 (Bills kick).

Seth Heitkamp 1-yard rush, :00 (Bills kick).

Third Quarter

Bills 33-yard field goal, 6:22.

Fourth Quarter

Jesse Voigtschild 6-yard rush, 8:16 (2-pt no good).