Independent file photo Marshall’s Brayden Hilgemann flies in for the tackle during their Oct. 5, 2018 game against St. Peter. The Tigers will square off against the Saints tonight.

MARSHALL – Last week, the Marshall football team relied on all three phases to earn a convincing 68-0 victory over Belle Plaine. The Tigers were led offensively by Konnor Aufenthie, who completed eight of his nine passing attempts for 136 yards and two touchdowns. Gabe Raini added 77 yards on the ground and a pair of scores while Bryce Lance led in receiving with 74 yards on three catches as well as averaging 43.7 yards on punt returns and two scores.

“I thought we executed well last week; we had one formation penalty but we’ll get that cleaned up, otherwise we blocked the right people and were aggressive and made big plays on offense,” Marshall coach Terry Bahlmann said. “Defensively, we faced a unique offense with the double tight straight T, but for the most part we held our responsibility and shut it down.”

Tonight, Marshall will look to keep its perfect record intact against the St. Peter Saints, who are coming off a 46-36 loss to Blue Earth Area last week. The Saints will rely on the play of quarterback Wyatt Olson as well as receivers Cade Horner, Jack Harvey and Ethan Grant.

“St. Peter has a three-year starter at quarterback, who’s a good football player and has some D-II basketball offers,” Bahlmann said. “I would say on film, they’re the best offense we’ve seen for sure and they’re going to throw the ball a lot and we need to make some plays when the ball is in the air.”

Bahlmann said their main focus on the offensive end in practice this week has been on continuing to establish their running game early and set a tone with some big plays.

“Offensively, we’re going to see a 4-3 defense, and we want to run the football early and use our play-action game and make big plays,” Bahlmann said. “We were able to do that last week and we have to set the tone again this week right away.”

Defensively, Bahlmann added they’ll need to put pressure on Olson and make plays in the secondary in order to have a similar performance.

“Like always, we want to put pressure on the quarterback and stay with the receivers,” Bahlmann said. “They’ve got two or three quick kids that can catch the ball, so it’s going to be a big challenge for our secondary.

Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. Bahlmann said it’s also a game with early section implications, so they’re looking forward to the challenge.

“It’s a big game for our section,” Bahlmann said. “They’re a 4A in our section this year, so we need to get those points and help our section seeding.”