Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Grant Louwagie (8) reacts after Trey Steinbach (11) recovered a fumble during their Section 2AAAA semifinal game against No. 3 Jordan on Saturday. The Tigers defeated the Hubmen 31-20 to advance to the championship game.

MARSHALL — After closing out its regular season with a 42-0 victory over Jordan last week, the No. 2 Marshall football team knew their second meeting was going to be much different. With a trip to the Section 2AAAA championship game and their seasons at stake, the Tigers and Hubmen put on a gritty and emotional performance, and Marshall was able to advance with a 31-20 victory in the semifinal round at Mattke Field.

Marshall coach Terry Bahlmann said despite coming away with a win, they know they have a lot of work in front of them.

“We won a ballgame; as much as you tell 16 and 17-year-olds and everybody else that Jordan is a seven-win team, the last time we had five interceptions in the first half to put it away early, I figured it would be a close game,” Bahlmann said. “We made a ton of mistakes and we’ve got to get that straightened out, but we came up with a win; defense had a big goal-line stand at the end and that really put the cap on it.”

Tightly contested early

It didn’t take the Tigers very long to strike on the offensive end, as a pass interference call and a deep ball from Konnor Aufenthie to Bryce Lance put Marshall at the Jordan 5-yard line. Aufenthie then took it in himself from a yard out to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead with 9:41 left in the first quarter.

Marshall quickly regained possession thanks to Grant Louwagie knocking the ball into the air and Jackson Vierstraete coming up with the interception on Jordan’s first drive. Not much later after that, Aufenthie connected with Lance again, this time for a 48-yard touchdown to push the Tigers advantage to 14-0 with under eight minutes left in the same frame.

Both teams traded punts to close the first, and Marshall’s stifling defense came up with another takeaway, with Louwagie forcing a fumble that was recovered by Trey Steinbach that set the Tigers up at the Hubmen 29-yard line. Marshall was able to drive deep into Jordan territory, but the Hubmen kept them out of the end zone as Hugo Cifuentes drilled a 20-yard field goal to make it 17-0 near the midway point of the second quarter.

Despite finding themselves in an early deficit, the Hubmen continued to attack on offense, and came up with a big play of their own on a double pass before a fourth-and-10 pass found the end zone to get Jordan on the board at 17-6 after the missed extra point with 4:35 to go in the half. The Hubmen — who were being led by sophomore Noah Milhouse for the second straight week after an injury to starter Bryce Sievers — kept their momentum going on their next drive with a 24-yard score to bring it to 17-13 with under two minutes to go and eventually into halftime.

Momentum

pendulum

With some new-found momentum on its side, Jordan got its crowd roaring in the opening seconds of the second half, as the kickoff to start the third quarter was returned 85 yards to the end zone to put the Hubmen in front for the first time at 20-17.

In need of an answer, the Tigers had some work to do by starting their first drive of the half on their own 8-yard line. Marshall converted on a fourth-and-inches before Aufenthie found Brayden Hilgemann wide open for a play that brought the Tigers all the way down to the Jordan 31. Aufenthie then connected with Dean Pochardt a few plays later for a 16-yard score that regained the lead for Marshall at 24-20 and capped off the 92-yard drive with under eight minutes left in the third.

Both teams would trade takeaways at key moments over the next several minutes. The Tigers got another big takeaway on the ensuing drive, as Steinbach forced a fumble of his own, but Marshall wasn’t able to capitalize on the change of possession. Later, Steinbach kept up his strong defensive night with an interception on Jordan’s first drive of the fourth to put the Tigers at the Hubmen 6-yard line, but just as quickly as Marshall gained possession, Jordan took it right back with an interception of its own with 8:21 left.

After the Tigers forced a turnover on downs to get the ball back on their own 37, Marshall found itself with a fourth-and-1 situation with 2:20 to play at the Jordan 46-yard line. It would be Hilgemann who got the call, but the senior wanted more than just the first down, and got it by breaking free for the touchdown and extending Marshall’s lead to 31-20.

“I was just expecting to fall forward and get that one yard,” Hilgemann said. “No was there, so I kept running.”

Looking for a score of their own, the Hubmen returned the ensuing kickoff to the Marshall 29-yard line before eventually working their way to the Tigers 1-yard line. Spencer Wambeke would push Jordan back a few yards on a sack, and the Hubmen found themselves with a fourth-and-1 play of their own with just 1:13 remaining. Milhouse would float a pass to the end zone, but Lance jumped up and knocked it away to give Marshall the ball back, and the Tigers ran out the clock to earn the thrilling victory and seal their spot into the championship game.

As a team, Marshall recorded 406 yards of total offense while Jordan had 306 yards. The Tigers outgained the Hubmen in rushing (184-39) but Jordan won the passing battle 267-222.

Offensively, Aufenthie completed 14 of his 25 pass attempts while throwing for two scores while adding 35 yards on the ground. Hilgemann led in rushing with 71 yards on six carries and a score while Gabe Raini added 51 yards. Lance led in receiving with 97 yards on three receptions and a touchdown while Hilgemann added 49 yards, Steinbach had 35 and Pochardt chipped in 22 and a score.

Defensively, the Tigers were led by Steinbach with 8 1/2 total tackles while Louwagie added 5 1/2 and Lance had 4 1/2 stops. As a team, Marshall also recorded four takeaways.

“I think it was a big group effort,” Steinbach said. “Our defensive line played really well and the defensive backs did a great job too and made some plays for us and that was key.”

Up next

Marshall (9-0) heads on the road to face No. 1 Hutchinson next Friday at 7 p.m. Hutchinson defeated No. 4 Mankato East 60-14 in its semifinal matchup.

Bahlmann knows they’ll have a challenging task in Hutchinson and expects it to be another close battle.

“We’ve got to be better obviously to play with Hutchinson,” Bahlmann said. “They’ve been the No. 1 or No. 2 team in the state all year and we know their tradition; we’ve had some great battles with them over the years and we’re expecting no less next week.”

Marshall 31, Jordan 20

Jordan 0 13 7 0 – 20

Marshall 14 3 7 7 – 31

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

Marshall: Aufenthie 1 yd run (Cifuentes kick good).

Marshall: Lance 48 yd pass from Aufenthie (Cifuentes kick good).

Second Quarter

Marshall: Cifuentes 20 yd field goal.

Jordan: 10 yd pass (Kick no good).

Jordan: 24 yd pass (Kick good).

Third Quarter

Jordan: 85 yd kickoff return (Kick good).

Marshall: Pochardt 16 yd pass from Aufenthie (Cifuentes kick).

Fourth Quarter

Marshall: Hilgemann 46 yd run (Cifuentes kick).

Individual Leaders

Passing (Cp-Att-Yds-TD-Int): Marshall (Aufenthie 14-25-222-2-1).

Rushing (Att-Yds-TD): Marshall (Hilgemann 6-71-1; Raini 17-51; Aufenthie 11-35-1; Mernaugh 8-22).

Receiving (Rec-Yds-TD): Marshall (Lance 3-97-1; Hilgemann 1-49; Steinbach 3-35; Pochardt 3-22-1).