Photos by Samantha Davis. Marshall's Mason Eickhoff breaks through Willmar's defense and runs the ball up the field in the first half Saturday afternoon at Mattke Field in Marshall. Eickhoff had team-high 46 rushing yards. Below: Marshall's Jayden Meister (28), Josh Kraft (10) and Owen Wilts (left) tackle a Willmar player in the first half. The Tigers defeated the Cardinals and advance to the 2AAAA championship next Friday.

MARSHALL — The top-seeded Marshall football team faced early struggles offensively in a close-fought battle against No. 5 Willmar Saturday afternoon, but came up with big defensive plays to solidify a 20-6 victory in the Section 2AAAA semifinals, and now advance to the championship game for the third consecutive year.

“This feels great, we put a lot of effort into this season,” Jayden Meister said. “It feels great to move on to the next round and keep winning.”

The last time Marshall and Willmar met earlier this season on Sept. 6, the Tigers came out with a 33-7 win. Since then, Marshall has won every game but its lone loss to Waseca 20-14 on Sept. 13, including three shutouts by 42 or more points. Saturday’s win marks the team’s sixth straight as it continues to find dominating consistency.

“It’s our defense. We’ve been built off our defense, and our defense leads us,” Marshall head coach Terry Bahlmann said. “We want to be opportunistic on offense, so hopefully we can keep it rolling.”

The top three seeds had a bye into the semifinals of the tournament. Willmar took down New Ulm 28-6 on Tuesday in the play-in round.

The first half consisted of a handful of turnovers on both ends, but Marshall in particular had some challenges on offense.

The Cardinals had 127 total yards gained and kept the Tigers to just 54 yards through the entire first half. Marshall was eventually able to get on the board with the afternoon’s first touchdown in the second quarter with a run in by Mason Eickhoff off a Gavin Schaefer interception. But, Willmar responded on its next possession by visiting the end zone themselves.

“We were back and forth offensively. We were behind the sticks a lot. I think we had 10 plays that we weren’t behind the chains. That challenged us on offense,” Bahlmann said. “At halftime, we just wanted to calm down a little bit. [It’s] playoff atmosphere … I thought we were a little uptight. Just calm down, and our defense has led us all year, and we want to rely on them.”

Midway through the first quarter, Meister caught an interception to give Marshall the ball back as Willmar was closing in on the 17-yard line. Meister continued to be a defensive force through the game.

Despite the interception, the Cardinals took the ball back after a lack of gained yardage and four downs on Marshall’s part.

JR Vierstraete sacked Willmar’s quarterback to force a third down at the end of the first quarter, to try to bring some momentum to the Tigers.

Meister came up big once again to start the second and blocked two straight Willmar passes to force the fourth down and Marshall took the ball back on the Cardinals’ 27-yard line.

“It’s [defense] just a part of the game for me,” Meister said. “I’ve worked on it all year, and just apply what you do in practice into the game.”

Quarterback Levi Maeyaert had a carry in addition to a few handoffs to Schaefer, although it wasn’t enough as Maeyaert had a pair of incomplete passes to turn the ball over.

Maeyaert finished with two complete passes for 27 yards on six attempts.

Schaefer then caught an interception at Willmar’s 15-yard line nearing the end zone, which immediately resulted in Eickhoff running in for the touchdown on the next play. Easton Manke’s field goal kick was successful to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead with just over three minutes to go until half time.

Eickhoff had a team-high 46 rushing yards on eight attempts, followed by Schaefer with 34 yards on 17 attempts.

Willmar cruised to Marshall’s 34-yard line off the receiving kick in response.

A few Vierstraete tackles on the Cardinals quarterback momentarily halted the opponents offense, but two consecutive face mask penalties were called on Marshall as Willmar got within the red zone and their quarterback eventually ran in for the touchdown.

The Tigers blocked Willmar’s field goal kick to keep the 1-point edge going into the half.

The second half brought in two more touchdowns by Kraft and a Vierstraete interception to put Marshall in front and combat the first half troubles.

“At half time, we cleaned it up, everything that we were not doing right,” Vierstraete said. “We came out with more intensity and got it done.”

In a slow starting third quarter on both sides, Jack Meier sacked the Cardinals quarterback to force the turnover back to Marshall.

“I think the pressure on the quarterback was good,” Bahlmann said. “We stopped some breakdowns on the edge in the second half.”

An Eickhoff rush and a Maeyart pass to Andrew Stelter gave Marshall another first-down at Willmar’s 19-yard line, and a chance to create a more comfortable lead.

Maeyaert passed up the middle to Josh Kraft who ran into the end zone and the Tigers extended its lead to 14-6 after another successful field kick from Manke.

Kraft had 17 yards on the catch, a team-high followed by 10 yards on one catch from Stelter.

Time began closing in with stagnant play on both ends through the fourth quarter, until a punt to Willmar resulted in the ball rolling to the 1-yard line in Cardinals’ territory.

Vierstraete on the next play intercepted in the end zone and built a 20-6 advantage with three minutes of gameplay to go, which decided the final score and Marshall officially found itself championship bound.

“It felt good,” Vierstraete said. “Thanks to Jack Meier for tipping it and thanks to Josh Kraft for punting it right there.”

Marshall, now 8-1 overall, will next face No. 2 Hutchinson in the revenge-seeking championship, where they both have previously met the prior two seasons.

“[It will be] the same as every other week,” Vierstraete said in regards to preparation. “Bring the intensity, practice hard and then you’re ready to go for the game.”

Hutchinson defeated No. 3 St Peter 21-0 Saturday afternoon.

“It feels good. Last year, we were at Hutchinson and lost when we had the lead and got beat in the second half,” Bahlmann said. “The kids wanted to be back with another chance and get Hutch at home … A lot of times in life, you don’t get second chances. We get a second chance to make that happen.”

Hutchinson, 4-5, defeated Marshall in both title games. But, both were played on the opponent’s grounds. Since the Tigers are the first-seed this year, Marshall brings the championship game home this time around, to be played at the Schwan Regional Event Center on Mattke Field Nov. 1 with a 7 p.m. kickoff.

“We just stick together,” Meister said. “You never stop fighting as a team. You got to do everything for the guy next to you.”