Flyers upend Cavs on last second field goal

MARIA STEIN — Leading 140, Marion Local was in control early but Coldwater didn’t lie down and fought back to tie it at 21-21 late in the fourth quarter on Friday night.

With a little over two minutes left, the Flyers were able to get the ball back and marched down the field and got down to the 5-yard line, taking a timeout with two seconds left on the game clock, bringing in the field goal unit and giving kicker Kevin Partington a chance to win it.

And win it he did as Partington drilled the 23-yarder to give the Flyers a 24-21 win over Coldwater and to remain undefeated on the year.

“Kevin is just an outstanding individual. He is so dedicated to everything he does,” said Flyers coach Tim Goodwin. “That kid has put in countless hours kicking. That’s what you dream of, right? A field goal to beat your biggest rival when the score is tied.”

The Flyers improve to 9-0 on the season and handed Coldwater its second loss in the last three weeks.

“They just battled like crazy,” Goodwin said. “It was kind of like the Versailles game. After a while, it’s like wow, win or lose, our kids are just playing their butts off. Coldwater’s kids did too. They played extremely well. I mean it’s Coldwater-Marion. And we won a game on a field goal. We’ve been on the wrong side of that a couple times. So we’re over there like, ‘One time, let’s win this by a field goal.’

The Flyers set the tone early on, forcing a turnover on downs