Independent file photo Members of the Marshall defense signal a change of possession after a fumble by Waseca during their Section 2AAAA Championship game on Nov. 3, 2017. The two teams will square off again tonight.

MARSHALL – Coming off its second shutout of the season, a 58-0 victory over New Ulm, the Marshall football team will turn its attention to a familiar foe tonight: the Waseca Bluejays. The Tigers defeated the Bluejays in last year’s Section 2AAAA title game 41-13.

Last week, Bryce Paulsen led the way for the Tigers with three passing touchdowns while adding an interception return for a score of his own on defense while Cody Greve hauled in two touchdowns and Braedy Slagel, Brayden Hilgemann and Austin Morris each added a touchdown.

Josh Deines chipped in a kick return touchdown while the Marshall defense also had a safety in the win.

Marshall coach Terry Bahlmann said their biggest takeaway from last week’s win is continuing to improve as a team and clean up some mistakes on offense.

“We did a lot of things well and we scored on defense a couple of times, but there were three series in there where we didn’t execute on offense and we were a little disappointed by that,” Bahlmann said. “Overall, it was a nice win for us and we got to play everybody in the ballgame, so we need to build and improve. We tell them all the time don’t look ahead, but I think we were peaking ahead to Waseca a little bit.”

The Bluejays enter the game with a 3-1 record, with the lone blemish coming in a tight loss to Fairmont on Sept. 14. Waseca then responded with a 60-6 rout over Albert Lea last week.

Bahlmann said the Bluejays have lots of size and skill spread out on the field it’s going to be challenging to stop on both sides of the ball.

“They’re a good football team; they were ranked as high as fifth in the state and had a surprising loss to Fairmont but they’ve got strong skilled kids,” Bahlmann said. “Their quarterback has played for three years and will be leading them and on the offensive line they have good size. Defensively, they’re very aggressive and play a lot of 4-3 and move around, so it’s going to be a great challenge for us.”

Defensively, Bahlmann said their main focus this week has been on making sure to contain Bluejays senior quarterback Hunter Rodriguez as well as their receivers, Malik and Kyreese Willingham.

“Defensively we’ve got to identify the receivers and as always put pressure on the quarterback,” Bahlmann said. “They have the two tall receivers and we don’t match up very well, so we need to make sure we’re perfect in our technique.”

On the offensive end, Bahlmann added they’re working on staying disciplined and controlling the line of scrimmage throughout the game.

“We’re going to come off the football and control the line of scrimmage,” Bahlmann said.

Going into the game, Bahlmann said they’re looking forward to writing another chapter in the storied rivalry between the two teams.

“It’s a great rivalry game, coach (Brad) Wendland does a great job with his program and we know they’ll be ready and we’ll be ready to play,” Bahlmann said. “It should be a lot of fun.”