It was a long drive from Chicago to Ohio on Saturday, January 12th. The MaxPreps Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard traveled to Maria Stein, a small town located in western Ohio.right next to year 2005 Tour of Champions honoree, Coldwater High School. This evening it was Marion Local High School to be honored, the first of two schools from Ohio being honored with a MaxPreps Tour of Champions ceremony.
After treating myself to some McNuggets and a vanilla shake, I arrived to the school at roughly 6:30pm, noticing that a large portion of the entire community was in attendance.and this was at the JV game! Once again, I had the pleasure of working with the Ohio National Guard, one of the finest and most involved Guard states to take part in the Tour of Champions.
The ceremony took place during halftime of the boys' varsity basketball game, a contest that pitted rivals Marion Local against Anna. Sticking with tradition, MaxPreps representative Chris Brethel spoke first on behalf of the Tour. Brethel's speech centered around two points: 1) The caliber of high school football (and athletics overall) that comes out of Ohio and 2) the size (or lack there of) of Marion Local HS and the amazing championship season they put together, despite one of the smallest schools we've visited in three years. After addressing a patriotic crowd to the values of the Army National Guard and its focus on leadership, 1SG Charlie Arnett, OHNG had the honors of presenting Head Coach Tim Goodwin with the MaxPreps Tour of Champions Trophy.
Marion Local HS boasts 335 students, by far the smallest high school we have honored as part of the Tour. Yet the size of the school does not reflect the huge hearts, incredible support and tremendous talent produced by this championship team. Congratulations to Marion Local High School, MaxPreps' number 26 team in America!
