Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall defensive end Cannon Craigmile (11) celebrates with teammate Jayden Meister after Craigmile came away with an interception at the line of scrimmage in the first quarter of the Marshall football team's matchup against Hutchinson on Friday at Mattke Field. The Marshall Tigers defeated the Hutchinson Tigers 49-6 to remain undefeated on the season.

MARSHALL — In a battle of two teams that have met in the Section 2AAAA championship game three years in a row, the No. 2 Marshall football team appeared to be a class above Hutchinson on Friday. The Marshall Tigers scored two touchdowns in the first five minutes of play and never looked back, cruising to a 49-6 victory to remain undefeated on the season.

“It feels great, I’m not going to lie, especially when it’s 49-6,” Marshall center Eli Weedman said. “We knocked them out of the playoffs last year, it was awesome, so this has been great.”

Marshall has matched up with the Hutchinson Tigers in the section title game each of the last three years. While Hutchinson took the first two matchups in Hutchinson by scores of 52-30 and 30-14, the Marshall Tigers came out in last year’s section final by a score of 35-13 to run away with the win and continued to look like the top Tigers this time around with a 43-point margin of victory.

The win secures a district championship for Marshall just four games into the season with St. Peter and New Ulm moving down a class for the season. Still, the Tigers’ business is far from finished.

“It’s sort of unique that we’re in week four and we’re already district champs… but that was goal number one,” Marshall head coach Terry Bahlmann said. “That’s in place, but we’ve got bigger things to go after.”

Hutchinson caught Marshall off guard to start the game, recovering an onside attempt on the opening kickoff to take over at the 49-yard line. Yet, the Tiger defensive front buckled down and forced a turnover on downs.

Marshall took advantage of the field position immediately. JR Vierstraete hauled in a 31-yard contested catch to start the drive, and consecutive first-down runs by Andrew Stelter and Milo Swenson kept the chains moving to the 6-yard line. From there, Stelter jumped a low tackler before rumbling into the end zone for the game’s first touchdown four minutes in.

“We thought we’d be in a physical game coming in and we don’t want to overuse JR on reps, and we needed him tonight and he made two huge plays for us there,” Bahlmann said. “It’s nice to have in our back pocket when we need to go there. And of course… Levi put it right on him and when he gets the football, he’s a factor.”

Swenson and Stelter headed Marshall’s balanced rushing attack. Swenson had six carries for 50 yards, Stelter had another four for 40 yards, and Sam Meier got ample opportunity late and broke off 78 yards on seven carries. The Tigers had 12 different players log at least one carry in the game.

“We communicate very well and we run together very well,” Weedman, the lone returning starter on the line from last year’s state semifinal run, said. “Our whole philosophy is to just push them back and hit them harder than they hit us. Get them on the ground, we can pancake on pancake and give our running backs holes.”

“It’s awesome being able to be a part of something big and putting up this much,” guard Angel Chavarna, in his first year starting for the team, said. “Like our coach says, the offense starts with the o-line up front, getting them back, so we’ve got to open the gaps up for the backs.”

Bahlmann said that he felt that Marshall’s four new starters have gelled well early on, noting that the team played a total of seven players on the line with Weedman, Chavarna, Cael Frana, Aidan Erickson, Max Parks and Clayton Jones and Braedyn VanMeveren rotating in.

“Seven guys worked in there and they did a good job. They make us go,” Bahlmann said. “I thought Levi played a really good, smart game at quarterback, put the ball where it needed to be and the guys made plays from there.”

Cannon Craigmile gave the Tigers the ball back just two plays later, jumping up to make an interception at the line of scrimmage to give Marshall the ball back in Hutchinson territory. Swenson and Stelter again moved the chains into the red-zone with a run and a 13-yard swing pass, and this time it was Swenson’s turn to cross the plain for a nine-yard touchdown and a two-touchdown lead.

“I see my defensive line getting in there, and the guy rolls out to me, but I’m supposed to keep the edge when they go in there,” Craigmile said of the play, which resulted in his first varsity interception. He credited his fellow defensive linemen and middle linebackers for creating the play and the secondary for staying back in coverage to blanket the receivers. “Last week, I had the same thing and it went right through my hands. So to get that, it meant a lot. It was just a great feeling to get that secured right away.”

Craigmile was one of four Tigers with an interception in the game, along with Shep Jensen, Ethan Weedman and Rocco Rignell. The big plays in the secondary came despite the absence of 6-foot-7 starting cornerback Jayden Meister, who is out with a knee injury. Bahlmann said that Meister is the caliber of player that isn’t replaceable, but that his team has done a great job of stepping up.

“There are guys there like Carter Manthei and Rocco Rignell, at the end there, who stepped up and made good plays, and our seniors have done a great job of leading,” Bahlmann said. “The next guy up comes in and makes plays for us. Our kids know our scheme and they execute perfectly.”

The visiting Tigers got on the board with a minute left in the first quarter, converting three fourth-down conversions before Hanley Neumann took a ball on a sweep to the right for a nine-yard touchdown.

Marshall stopped the 2-point conversion to keep their lead at 8 points and quickly re-extended their lead. On the next play from scrimmage, Levi Maeyaert found Logan Eickhoff wide open down the seam, and Eickhoff coasted another 31 yards after the catch for a 62-yard touchdown.

Maeyaert had a big game passing the ball for Marshall, completing seven of his eight attempts for 209 yards and a touchdown. Vierstraete and Stelter each had a pair of receptions for 58 and 57 yards, respectively, Boeck had a pair of catches for 32 yards and Eickhoff’s one reception allowed him to lead the team in receiving yards.

The hometown Tigers continued to pile onto their lead as the half progressed. Marshall faced a third-and-14 from the shadow of their own end zone before a defensive pass interference call on a pass intended for Craigmile moved the chains, and Marshall continued to advance before Stelter broke off a 44-yard touchdown run along the right sideline to bring the lead to 22 points.

Hutchinson attempted its first punt late in the first half, but a fumbled snap gave Marshall possession at the Hutchinson 45 and Vierstraete jumped up to make a catch on an out route, shed the would-be tackler, and took the catch another 20 yards to the house for a 45-yard touchdown.

When asked about the play, Vierstraete gave all the credit to his teammates, commending the offensive linemen for laying out good blocks and Maeyaert for placing the ball perfectly.

“We put stuff in every week that we think is going to work, and we’ve just been working every week to get better,” Vierstraete said.

Another defensive stop and a designed run by Craigmile helped Marshall advance the ball to the Hutchinson 37 on their next possession. Boeck slid backwards to make a grab for a 26-yard gain with 25 seconds before the half, and the Tigers got the ball to Boeck again on the next play for a touchdown and a 42-6 halftime lead.

Shep Jensen came down with Marshall’s second interception of the night on Hutchinson’s first possession of the second half, catching a pass that sailed high near the Marshall 32 and returned it to midfield.

Milo Swenson immediately broke off a run between the tackles for a 25-yard gain, cutting the field in half, and broke off another 23 yards on the next two carries to set up second-and-goal at the 2. He was stuffed on the next two plays to set up fourth-and-goal from the 1, but Maeyaert converted the QB sneak on fourth to bring the lead to 49-6 at the midway mark of the third quarter.

Hutchinson started to drive late in the third quarter, but Ethan Weedman caught an interception in stride like a wide receiver with four minutes left to give Marshall the ball back at its own 16-yard line.

After taking over on Weedman’s pick, Marshall started to work in its reserves. Magnus Schlenner took over at quarterback and the Tigers reaped the benefit of running clock in the fourth quarter. Meier broke off a 21-yard gain to get the team moving on the drive, took another pitch for eight yards on the next play and continued to pound the rock as Marshall moved the ball.

“We got a chance to play almost 90 guys tonight, so that’s great, and our twos, threes, and fours [stringers] did not let them in the end zone. That builds confidence for those guys down the road,” Bahlmann said. “They’ve been there, it’s a lot of fun, but I thought they came in and Sam Meier really ran the ball hard again, he fits into what we’re doing. So proud of our whole football team.”

Hutchinson was driving late in the fourth quarter, working its way to the Marshall 7-yard line, but Rignell leaped up to pick off a fade to the back of the end zone and effectively ice the game.

Marshall improves to 4-0 on the season with the win and will look to carry its momentum onto the road next week, taking on Delano (2-1) on Friday at 7 p.m.