By Randy Wilker
Sports Correspondent
FINDLAY – Throughout the 2008 football season the Liberty Benton Eagles shutout eight of their opponents and nothing changed Saturday night in the Division V state semifinal football game against the Marion Local Flyers. With the stifling Eagle defense and the running feet of quarterback Aaron Craft the Eagles defeated the Flyers 35-0 in a game played at Donnell Stadium in Findlay.

“They are a great team,” Flyers head coach Tim Goodwin said. “They kept the pressure on us and we didn’t really respond the way we should have.”
The Eagles showed what they had right off the opening kickoff. Starting from their 18, junior quarterback Aaron Craft started with a pair of passes of 14 yards and five yards and then used his legs for the rest as he rushed three more times including a 25-yard touchdown run up the middle with 9:57 left. The extra point kick by Justin Hyde made the score 7-0.
“Craft looked good to me,” Goodwin said. “He puts so much pressure on our defense and we could handle him tonight.”
After stopping the Flyers and forcing a punt, the Eagles started from the 20 and once again it was Craft who did the work as he broke loose on the first play down the sideline for 44 yards putting the ball at the Flyer 36.
It seemed like penalties were the only thing that could even slow the Eagles up. Following a holding penalty, Liberty Benton moved the ball down to the five on a 20-yard pass to Brennan Lieb. The drive stalled there and Justin Hyde had to kick a 29-yard field goal to increase the lead to 10-0 with 3:32 left.
In the game Craft threw for 135 yards and rushed for 168 yards and scored three touchdowns.
“Aaron Craft made good decisions tonight,” Eagles head coach Tim Nichols said. “I will never say anything about it if he pulls it down and runs the ball. We are fortunate to have him and the team rallies with what he does, but this was a team win.”
Throughout the game the Flyers were able to get the better of the field position on kickoffs, but they could not produce any points.
“For whatever reason we couldn’t string together some plays,” Goodwin said. “We couldn’t get any rhythm going and a lot of that was them, but some of it was us. Whenever that does happen you have to congratulate the other team and we wish them the best of luck.”
The Eagles began their next drive at the seven as the first quarter ended on an eight yard run by Brandon Pickett and moved out to the 21 on two runs from Craft, but a few incomplete passes forced a punt.
The next play they regained possession when Troy Prenger threw a 13- yard completion to Luke Bertke, who fumbled the ball with Justin Hyde recovering at the 35 with nine minutes left. The Eagles moved the ball down to the Flyer 25 on a 30-yard completion to Pickett and a 13-yard run by Craft, but the drive stalled and Hyde kicked a 42-yard field goal to make the score 13-0 at halftime.
In the second half Marion Local pinned the Eagles back at the 15, but it didn’t take Craft very long to get out of danger. He started with a 15-yard run and then found Hyde for a 44-yard pass completion. Four plays later Craft went in from six yards out for the touchdown to give LibertyBenton a 20-0 lead with six minutes left.
Three plays after the kickoff, Prenger threw his third interception of the game and three plays later Craft went in for an 11-yard touchdown run to increase the lead to 27-0.
Just beginning the fourth quarter the Eagles were forced to punt, but on the first play Jarren Griesdorn threw an interception to Nathan Aydtwho returned the pick 75 yards for a touchdown. Craft completed a two-point conversion pass to Brandon Pickett to make the final score 35-0.
“We are proud of our kids,” Goodwin concluded. “We lost a lot from last year and this senior class was a great group to work with and it was a privilege for us. Their parent’s are proud of them and the community is proud of them and the coaches are proud of them.”
This Eagle victory breaks a 13-game playoff winning streak and the Eagle coach made sure his players knew what they were up against.
“We made sure they were aware of what Marion Local had done over the past couple years,” Nichols said. “Our kids respected that, but it also motivated us.”
The Eagles will travel to Massillon next Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. to face Youngstown St. Ursuline in the Division V state championship.