Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Bryce Paulsen heads for the goal-line for a touchdown during their game against Tri-City United on Friday. The Tigers defeated the Titans 54-7.

MARSHALL – In his final regular season home game, Bryce Paulsen wanted to make a signature mark and help carry his team to another win at Mattke Field. The senior quarterback did just that and more, accounting for five of Marshall’s eight touchdowns on the night as the Tigers rolled to a 54-7 victory over Tri-City United on Friday.

The win also kept an undefeated record at home for Marshall’s senior class intact and Paulsen acknowledged the importance of maintaining a strong mark on their home field as they head into their final game of the regular season next week.

“It’s really important,” Paulsen said. “It’s our senior season and it’s really fun to go undefeated with these guys and we’re trying to get that No. 2 seed, so we’re trying to do everything that’s within our control.”

Paulsen’s big night began right from the game’s opening play, as the quarterback lofted a perfect pass to Parker Terfehr for a 46-yard gain deep into TCU territory. Three plays later, Paulsen broke the plane on a one-yard rush, giving the Tigers a 7-0 lead.

After the offense saw a big play on its opening possession, it was the defense’s turn, recording a fumble on TCU’s first offensive possession and recovering it on the TCU 33-yard line. Marshall’s offense took it from there, as Paulsen connected with Gabe Raini for the short-field score, giving the Tigers a quick 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

Marshall wasn’t done quite yet, and the big plays from the offense continued to stamp their mark on the game. Paulsen was the key contributor on that long play, breaking to the far sideline and sprinting past the entire Titans defense for a 46-yard touchdown, extending Marshall’s lead to 20-0 in the process after the missed extra point.

Despite the growing deficit in front of them, TCU didn’t go away, using a fake punt on fourth-and-three and a penalty on the Tigers defense to march their way into Marshall territory. The Titans would ultimately turn the ball over on downs, but got the ball back at midfield after a quick three-and-out from the Marshall offense.

The Titans would take advantage of the short field position once again, scoring on a two-yard run to cut the deficit to 20-7 with 5:05 left in the first half.

In need of an answer, Paulsen took things into his own hands, driving the Tigers downfield and capitalizing on some key downs – including converting on a third-and-15 from the TCU 35 – before scoring his third rushing score of the first half to push Marshall back up by 20 at 27-7 going into the half.

TCU looked to continue the momentum it had gained in the second quarter to begin the second half, but the Tigers defense came up with their second takeaway of the game on a fumble recovery from Andrew Mulso. A couple of plays later, Paulsen continued his big night with his fourth rushing touchdown of the game and fifth total score overall for the gunslinger to make it 34-7 less than a minute into the second half.

The ground game continued to take advantage of open running lanes in the frame, as Jackson Hughes found some space and took it 44 yards to the pylon for the score, putting Marshall up 41-7. The Tigers’ backfield capitalized once more to start the fourth, this time with Tannyr Curry getting a 35-yard score of his own to make it 47-7 Marshall with nine minutes to go.

Marshall’s big-play night was not quite done, however, as Konnor Aufenthie found Bryce Lance on a slant pass. Lance turned and with nobody in front of him, took it 82 yards for his first touchdown reception of his career with 5:36 remaining to cap the 54-7 victory for the Tigers.

Marshall coach Terry Bahlmann said he was pleased with their overall effort and felt they did a nice job to jump out to an early lead to start.

“I thought we played pretty well; we ran the ball well early and made some nice plays, Bryce did a nice job of throwing and running the ball for us,” Bahlmann said. “We struggled on the offensive line a little more than we usually do in pass blocking, but it gives us something to clean up for next week.”

One thing Marshall looked to improve on heading into Friday was their ability to make big plays downfield. Bahlmann felt his players responded well and those long plays were their biggest threat on offense.

“It’s something that we worked on with our ends blocking downfield in the run game and then our backs making someone miss,” Bahlmann said. “I thought they responded well and had a good night and that led to the big plays, so hard work by both our running backs and our receivers.”

Paulsen finished his night with 223 total yards of offense while Hughes and Curry added to the ground game with 70 and 40 yards, respectively, and a score and Lance led the receivers with 82 yards and Terfehr added 59 yards.

Paulsen said their biggest key on the offensive end was their running game and attacking the pass rush of Tri-City United.

“I thought we ran the ball pretty well. I have a few things to clean up on passing and taking care of the ball, but we ran the ball well,” Paulsen said. “I just love competing with these guys, they’re really great teammates and we just have fun out there.”

Defensively, the Tigers shut down the Titans, including holding TCU to 196 yards of total offense and just 47 yards in the second half.

Bahlmann said despite allowing some big plays on key downs, he felt the defense did a nice job of pressuring the quarterback and creating turnovers.

“We just needed to know where the hot receiver is and some of that’s the secondary and some of that’s the linebackers,” Bahlmann said. “They were able to make some good plays and the quarterback made some nice throws to the tight end as well as run the wishbone against us. But overall, I thought we played well and had a ton of pressure on the quarterback. But they threw everything at us and we responded pretty well.”

Marshall also received some help in the section playoff picture, as Dassel-Cokato fell to Holy Family 32-7. The loss could push the Tigers into a No. 2 seed and another home game to start the section tournament.

Before the Tigers head into the playoffs, they must face Jordan on the road to close out the regular season on Wednesday. Paulsen said their biggest takeaway is just cleaning up on some mistakes on both sides of the ball as they try and close the regular season with a perfect 8-0 record.

“I think just knowing our keys and we just need to clean up some things on both offense and defense and I think we’ll be ready to go for Jordan,” Paulsen said.