(Left to right) Brothers Jonah, Jackson, and Jesse Vierstraete pose together for a photo following Marshall’s 42-0 win in their regular season finale against Belle Plaine on Wednesday, October 19, 2022

MARSHALL — Moments before halftime in the Marshall football team’s regular-season finale over Belle Plaine, a Tiger defensive lineman was able to force a fumble on a strip sack. The ball was scooped up by a Marshall defensive back, drawing a raucous celebration from the sidelines, led by a particularly enthusiastic defensive line coach.

The coach and both players involved in the play are the Vierstraete brothers. Jesse is a freshman defensive lineman who led the team in sacks. Jonah is a senior who was named the All-District Defensive Back of the Year. Jackson is a defensive line coach, three years removed from his playing days with the team but returned to help coach his brothers.

Jackson graduated in 2020 and is currently a junior at Southwest Minnesota State University. He participates on the esports team, playing Valorant. Still, despite a hectic college schedule, Jackson decided he wasn’t done being around the game.

Before his freshman year at SMSU, Jackson reached out to Marshall head coach Terry Bahlmann to ask if he could help with coaching. He spent a year helping out with the Marshall freshman team before moving up as a defensive line coach for the last two years.

“I spent a lot of time in high school on football and working on that type of stuff. I love the game and I love helping these guys-both my brothers and the rest of the guys on the team-figure it out and get better,” Jackson said.

While this past season was the trio’s first time playing on the same team at an organized level, they had grown up around the game as well. Jonah was invited to compete in the Minnesota High School All-Star game this year. The family ties go deeper, though, as their father Dustin Vierstraete, a two-time All-Conference selection for the Marshall Tigers, was selected to play in the All-Star game in 1993.

Growing up in a football family, the Vierstraetes spent plenty of time playing the game in their backyard as kids.

“It usually ended when I would score and throw JR [Jesse] to the ground and he would get upset,” Jonah said with a laugh.

“It was tough for Jesse because he used to be the youngest and smallest,” Jackson said.

“I used to be the smallest-”

“And you still are,” Jackson said jokingly to Jesse, adding that as the oldest of the three, he had the responsibility to act as a mediator in the games and keep Jonah and Jesse from playing two rough.

While Jesse may have been the smallest of the three as a kid, his experience certainly helped him develop as a player. He finished the season with five sacks, earning him an All-South Central Red District honorable mention as a freshman.

Jesse credited his immediate impact to the way the group of seniors accepted him and made him comfortable on the field from the moment he joined the team. His strength on the field helped him battle past more experienced offensive linemen all season, and can partially be attributed to Jackson’s coaching.

“My biggest thing that I always emphasized is the weight room in between seasons,” Jackson said. “My belief is that the weight room can be the equalizer. You don’t always have the size advantage, but you can downplay that or close the gap in that by just getting in the weight room every day, pushing yourself, and competing with your teammates.”

Aside from the physical aspects of the game, however, the Vierstraete brothers are avid watchers of game film. When asked to name their favorite football moment together, Jesse brought up going home after a game to watch the film and look for areas of improvement. The three brothers spend hours every week watching both their own film and opponents’ scout tapes.

While film study is primarily known as a key part of player development, Jackson also said how it helped him as a coach.

“Coming into this year, I didn’t know much about secondary defensive play and defensive backs,” Jackson said. “Working with Jonah on that type of stuff and taking in everything he’s learning from our defensive backs coaches, we take that in, talk through stuff, and talk through how we’re supposed to play.”

Before losing in the section championship game to the reigning-state-champion Hutchinson Tigers, Marshall had an exceptional season. Jonah finished the season with three interceptions, three forced fumbles, and was a key component of the Tigers’ historically great defense. Going into the section championship game, Marshall had allowed just 5.3 points per game to their opponents, the lowest for the program since 1968.

“I’d look back on it as a season to remember, not just because it was my senior season, but just how we went from a team that didn’t really have an identity last year and went 4-5 to a group that really just worked hard,” Jonah said. “I’m proud of the guys for the way we battled and the way we played. We really just got back to where we wanted to be, a successful team.”

Jackson added that, while the loss to Hutchinson isn’t the ending they wanted, he was proud of how the team handled adversity in terms of close games and comeback wins.

“I was proud of how they carried themselves on and off the field. Not just the seniors, I’m proud of all the guys, the underclassmen that stepped up and made plays. I’m excited about the future,” Jackson said.