Independent file photo Marshall’s Tyler Maeyaert carries the ball during their game against Waseca last Friday. Marshall will face New Ulm today.

MARSHALL — Last week, the Marshall football team had another tough result, dropping its home opener against Waseca 19-7. The loss put MHS at 0-2 on the season for the first time since 2013.

Chidi Nwakama led Marshall with 49 rushing yards on 13 carries and a score while Tyler Maeyaert completed four of his 15 pass attempts for 54 yards and added 39 yards on the ground. Keaton Maertens added 40 yards passing on three completions while Nwakama led in receiving with 71 yards on four receptions. Defensively, Bryant Paulsen led Marshall with 9.5 total tackles while Andrew Wallen added 8.5 total tackles.

Marshall coach Terry Bahlmann said he thought they showed improvement in the first half against Waseca, but they weren’t able to execute right before the half on offense and didn’t make the right adjustments to the Bluejays’ defensive approach in the second half.

“I thought we played better in the first half and had our chances, I think the drop right before the half and putting it on the ground when we weren’t supposed to was key to the game. We were set up for a field goal and could go in with some momentum at 10-7 but we couldn’t execute,” Bahlmann said. “We only gave up two plays in the first half on defense, we lost coverage on a third-and-25 and if we get that stop, we probably shut them out in the first half. I was happy with how we played in the first half but in the second half they blitzed us over and over and we didn’t do a very good job of picking it up.”

This week, Marshall will look to get into the win column today against New Ulm, who is also entering with an 0-2 record after falling to Jordan 41-16 last Saturday. The Eagles will be led by Ayden Jensen, Aaron Kauffmann, Jacob Martinka, Garrett Foley, Tyler Sondag, Jaden Drill and Dylen Carreon.

Bahlmann said he knows the Eagles will be motivated to get a win and they need to limit mistakes on both sides of the ball.

“I’m sure they think that we look like a chance that they can beat us,” Bahlmann said. “I’m sure they’re fired up and want to make it personal and it’s on our field; we’re 0-2 and they’re 0-2 so it’s going to come down to who makes fewer mistakes.”

Offensively, Bahlmann said they need to clean things up in several areas and need to execute better as a group.

“We need to work on everything,” Bahlmann said. “We need to block better and execute, we need to run harder, our passing game we’ve struggled so far and are only completing about 24% and it’s not just on our quarterbacks, so we need to clean everything up on offense.”

Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m.