Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Bryant Paulsen tackles Waseca’s Tave Ball during their game on Friday. Marshall fell to Waseca 21-7.

MARSHALL — The Marshall and Waseca football teams entered Friday’s matchup and the second half of their regular season schedule looking to maintain their high-scoring pace and defensive intensity. Thanks to a stifling defensive performance, Waseca was able to hold the Marshall offense in check, and earned a 21-7 victory at Mattke Field at Southwest Minnesota State University. The loss snapped a 29-game win streak at home for Marshall.

Utilizing their size on the defensive front, the Bluejays limited Marshall to 244 yards of total offense, including 118 rushing yards. Waseca also forced two turnovers.

Marshall quickly moved the ball downfield on its opening possession, using a pass from Brevin Runia to Grant Louwagie to get the Tigers near midfield, but couldn’t move much further and was forced to punt. Waseca took advantage, as Ryan Dufault found an open lane and ran the ball down to the Marshall nine-yard line. The Marshall defense would force a fourth-and-goal situation for the Bluejays, but Dufault was able to find the end zone on a 2-yard run to put Waseca on the board at 7-0 with 3:19 left in the first quarter.

Looking to respond, Marshall marched the ball all the way down to the Bluejays 23-yard line. Near the end of the quarter, though, the Waseca defense came up with a turnover, recovering a fumble in the closing seconds. A flag was thrown on the play, but was picked up, maintaining possession for Waseca.

Marshall’s defense then forced a punt from Waseca to begin the second quarter, but the Bluejays pass rush continued to make an impact in the first half, getting a couple of sacks to get the ball back. Waseca quickly moved down to the Marshall red zone before finding the end zone to push the Bluejays’ lead to 14-0 with 2:45 left in the half. Waseca would also come up with an interception to close the frame, keeping Marshall from finding the scoreboard in the first half.

In search of a spark, Marshall found it early on in the third quarter. Bryce Lance would give the Tigers the ball thanks to a one-handed interception and a few plays later, Runia broke free for a touchdown run to cut the deficit to 14-7 with 7:46 left in the third quarter.

Both teams traded empty possessions to close the third, but Waseca didn’t waste much time to begin the fourth, as Dufault found Kyreese Willingham for a 45-yard touchdown connection just eight seconds in to push its lead to 21-7.

Marshall had another opportunity to cut into the deficit, getting the ball into Waseca territory with under five minutes to play, but the Bluejays would come up with another turnover. Waseca then ran out the clock to seal the victory.

Runia led the way for Marshall by completing 12 of his 20 pass attempts for 126 yards while adding 82 yards on the ground and a touchdown. DeMario Gaines added 28 rushing yards while Jack Bly led in receiving with 51 yards on three catches and Louwagie added 48 yards on two catches.

Defensively, Louwagie led Marshall with 11.5 total tackles while Bryant Paulsen added 9.5 total tackles and Bly had 5.5 total tackles.

Up next

Marshall (3-1) will hit the road to face Worthington next Friday at 7 p.m.