Photo by Kim Nelson Marshall running back Gavin Schaefer (24) plows through a group of Fairmont defenders during the Tigers’ 37-13 win over Class AAA No. 3-ranked Cardinals in Marshall on Friday night.

MARSHALL — If there was any doubt about how much the Marshall football team had improved since its rocky start, the Tigers eliminated it on Friday night. Just three weeks after being shut out for the first time under head coach Terry Bahlmann by No. 9 Waseca, Marshall exploded at home against No. 3 Fairmont for a 37-13 win. 

Coming into the game, Fairmont was a perfect 5-0. The Cardinals won each of their games by 21 or more points and had not trailed in any of their games all season. Yet, Marshall held a 20-point lead over Fairmont at halftime and never looked back.

Marshall didn’t take long to establish its ground-and-pound offense. Facing a third-and-long on the first drive of the game, Gavin Schaefer took a run outside the tackles for 31 yards to set the Tigers up in the red zone. Two plays later, he took a run up the middle for the first score of the game to give Marshall a 6-0 lead three minutes into the game.

After Marshall missed the extra point, Fairmont’s Elijah Johnson returned the kick 83 yards before Marshall kicker Ethan Hess got a hand on him to bring him down at the 5-yard line. The stout Marshall defense made a pair of stops before an offensive holding call set up a third-and-goal from the 14-yard line for the Cardinals. Still, Fairmont was able to find an open receiver in the middle of the end zone on third down and converted the extra point to take its only lead of the game. 

The two teams exchanged punts to give Marshall the ball back at its own 36. On the first play from scrimmage, Schaefer nearly had the home run play, taking a carry 19 yards before the last defender between Schaefer and the green pastures ahead was able to wrap him up to limit Marshall to the 45-yard line.

The stop didn’t matter; Schaefer then took another carry 18 yards to the 25-yard line and the next carry another 19 yards to the 6-yard line. After Fairmont finally limited Schaefer to just four yards on a tote, Mason Eickhoff punched in the touchdown from the 2-yard line to put Marshall back on top. The Tigers went for the 2-point conversion but the pass was knocked away, keeping the score at 12-7.

“[running the ball]’s our game plan every week if we can. We sort of call Gavin Beast Mode. He’s a big, strong kid. About 225, 230 [pounds] and people get tired of tackling him as the game goes on,” Bahlmann said. “If we can get him through the line of scrimmage, DBs [defensive backs] don’t want to come up and hit him.”

Schaefer finished the night with 16 carries for 178 yards.

Bahlmann added that he thought the Marshall offensive line played very well on the night with Aidan Mattison stepping up big time with starting left tackle Jake Allex out for the game.

Dylan Haney came down with the first turnover of the game in the second quarter. The Cardinals tried to throw the ball over the middle but the Marshall defensive back was able to jump up and make the grab, taking the ball from the Marshall 45-yard line down to the Fairmont 33. He finished the game with three interceptions.

“Experience, experience. You’re getting to play a lot more, [Haney] was a reserve last year and now he’s thrown into the role. As he gets more experience, he’s making more plays,” Bahlmann said, adding that Haney’s three interceptions were key to the game’s outcome.

On the very next play, Josh Kraft threw a deep ball downfield to Ashton Blomberg. The Fairmont defensive back made plenty of contact to try to stop the 6-foot-4 receiver, but Blomberg was still able to come back to the ball and make the 32-yard grab to set Marshall up at the 1-yard line. Kraft then crossed the plane with a QB sneak and the Tigers fed Eickhoff with a dive up the middle on the 2-point conversion to make the score 20-7 with under five minutes remaining in the half. 

“Ashton’s a big weapon for us and obviously he showed it tonight,” Bahlmann said, adding that Blomberg’s conversion on a long out route on third down was one of the biggest plays of the night. “He’s a big weapon for us and, again, his first year starting, so he’s getting better each week. I think as a team we’re getting better each week and we showed it tonight.”

Blomberg caught six of the team’s seven completions and accounted for 147 of the team’s 150 receiving yards.

Haney came down with his second pick of the day on the ensuing drive, adjusting an errant throw after the Marshall defensive line was able to get a hit on the quarterback as he threw. Still, Kraft was hit as he threw a few short plays later to give Fairmont the ball right back in nearly the same spot. 

Marshall had one last opportunity to score after taking over with 2:35 left in the half deep in their own territory. A false start set the Tigers back but, facing third-and-9, Schaefer found a gap for a 13-yard gain to keep the drive alive. Kraft then connected with Blomberg on another deep ball, this time for a 33-yard gain, and the Tigers spiked it with 39.5 seconds left. After a short gain forced Marshall to call timeout and an illegal man downfield penalty pushed Marshall back to the 22-yard line, Blomberg made another incredible bobbling catch while running across the middle. He reached forward but was marked short at the 2-yard line, so the Tigers spiked the ball with 17.2 seconds left; Marshall needed only three of those seconds for Eickhoff to punch the ball into the end zone to make the score 27-7 at the break. 

Fairmont came out of the locker room looking like a different team. They marched right down the field on the first possession of the game before the Tigers stonewalled them at the 33-yard line. The Cardinals looked to have a new set of downs but a dropped pass on third down set up fourth-and-10. The Cardinals elected to throw again but Eickhoff intercepted the pass and returned it to the 36-yard line.

Dylan Haney completed the hat trick of picks with four minutes remaining in the third quarter, catching the ball at Marshall’s 24-yard line and returning it to the 44. From there, Blomberg Mossed another wide receiver for a 31-yard pickup. 

Ethan Hess gave Marshall its first points of the second half with a 25-yard field goal 10 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Schaefer got another insurance touchdown with seven minutes remaining in the game, giving the Tigers 31 unanswered points to make the score 37-7.

Levi Cooley made a 46-yard catch for the Cardinals to set Fairmont up at the Marshall 27-yard line with six minutes remaining and he then took a short pass 25 yards on the next play to end the Marshall scoring run. 

Marshall opened its season last year with a 10-0 win against the Cardinals. Fairmont won the year prior in a 27-7 blowout. 

Marshall (4-2) has now won three straight games since its slow start out of the gates. The Tigers will go on the road to face St. Peter on Friday at 7 p.m. The Saints sit at 3-2 at the time of print, including a 21-0 loss to Fairmont on Sept. 22. 

Bahlmann said that the team is just looking to get better week by week when asked about the Tigers’ focus ahead of the game.

“We had a couple of stumbles in there that we were disappointed in, but the season is not over and we’re working to get better,” Bahlmann said. “It puts us in the driver’s seat for the district championship, huge game next week at St. Peter, section game, will be a lot of seeding on that.”