The Marion Local High School football team has five seniors, so it leans heavy on its younger players. Friday night the Flyers leaned hardest on sophomore Jacy Goettemoeller.

He ran 20 times for 157 yards and two touchdowns in Marion Local’s 28-21 defeat of St. Henry in the Division VI, Region 24 final here. Goettemoeller scored the Flyers’ last two scores and broke up St. Henry’s last two end-zone pass attempts to seal a win and thwart a Redskins comeback.

The effort sends Marion Local back to the state football playoff semifinals again after winning the D-VI state title last year.

“We have some things we need to do better, but I’m not apologizing for anyone,” Marion Local coach Tim Goodwin said. “We are in the state semifinals with five seniors. I’m excited. Our young guys played their butts off. They’re sophomores going against a Division I quarterback.”

St. Henry QB Nate Stahl was 21-of-37 passing for 316 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Marion Local held Stahl in check for three quarters. The Flyers led 28-7 after Goettemoeller’s 76-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, which came on a 2nd-and-31 play after Marion Local was called for back-to-back holding penalties.

“It won the game for us,” Goodwin said. “I don’t have a second-and-31 play on my sheet. Maybe they are thinking pass, but we gave it to our kid who can make people miss in the open field.”

The Redskins rallied, first with Stahl hitting Tyler Schwieterman for a 20-yard touchdown with nine minutes left. Stahl connected with Jeff Paul for a 10-yard touchdown with two minutes left.

The Flyers failed to run out the clock and gave the ball back to Stahl, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound NCAA Division I recruit, who connected with Matt Osterholt on a 53-yard pass to give St. Henry possession inside the Marion Local 20 with two minutes left.

St. Henry fired toward the end zone four times, but ran out of downs and eventually time, too.

“We won four games in two years, and here we are playing for a shot at state,” St. Henry coach Jeff Starkey said. “We just came up short.”