Never before had a single conference produced three state champions in the same season. But Ohio had never seen teams like Coldwater, Minster and Marion Local fielded this season.
All swept state championships in the debut of the return of championship weekend from Massillon and Canton to Ohio State University and storied Ohio Stadium.
“Some years you got it and some years you don’t quite make it,” Marion Local coach Tim Goodwin said. “We’re very fortunate playing in our league. If we’re in the top part of our league, we know we’re going to be very competitive in the postseason.”
Minster (12-3) was up first and pulled out the most thrilling of the seven divisional wins, stunning defending champ Kirtland in a shootout, 46-42, to win the D-VI title on Friday.
Trailing by nine, Minster scored, recovered an onside kick and scored again on Eli Wolf’s 51-yard catch and mostly run in the final 2:22. Wolf scored with 31 seconds remaining.
There would be no such dramatics from Marion Local and Coldwater on Saturday.
Marion Local (15-0) set 11 combined team and individual title-game records in overwhelming out-matched Norwalk St. Paul 41-0. That pushed the Flyers’ win streak to 37 games over three seasons. It also was their fourth straight title, a rarefied feat in Ohio football lore. Only two other teams had done that, St. Ignatius from 1991-95 and Newark Catholic from 1984-87.
That made the MAC two-for-two with Coldwater needing to beat Canton Central Catholic in the Saturday night finale to complete the championship trifecta. No problem.
The Cavaliers (14-1) raced to a 34-point halftime lead and ended the impressive conference showing with a 62-21 blowout victory. That makes three straight state titles for Coldwater, which also has played in six straight title games.
Fittingly, Coldwater’s only loss was to Marion Local in the regular season.
That makes 28 all-time state football titles won by MAC teams. Marion Local has won eight, all since 2000. It also pushes the MAC’s all-time, all sports state title total to 110.
There’s no beating that.
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