The Marshall student section reacts after Marshall’s first touchdown of its 35-7 win over Hutchinson in the 2AAAA semifinals on Saturday at Mattke Field in Marshall.

MARSHALL — For the fourth consecutive season, the Marshall football team is returning to the section championship game. The top-seeded Marshall Tigers hosted the No. 4 Hutchinson Tigers in the 2AAAA section semifinals on Saturday, and it was Marshall that came out on top by a score of 35-7 after shutting out the visitors for the first 44 minutes of play.

The win was the second of the season over Hutchinson for Marshall, which also hosted and defeated Hutchinson 49-6 on Sept. 19. It’s also the third straight win for Marshall over Hutchinson after it defeated Hutchinson 35-13 in the 2024 section final after falling to Hutchinson in the championship round each of the two years prior.

“We lost a lot of guys last year, but we replaced them with a bunch of other guys that are ready to go like last year’s,” Marshall quarterback Levi Maeyaert said. “We just have guys at every position that can come in and replace them really well.”

Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall defensive lineman JR Vierstraete (3) breaks down a postgame huddle with his teammates after Marshall defeated Hutchinson in the 2AAAA semifinals at Mattke Field in Marshall on Saturday night.

Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall defensive lineman JR Vierstraete (3) breaks down a postgame huddle with his teammates after Marshall defeated Hutchinson in the 2AAAA semifinals at Mattke Field in Marshall on Saturday night.

Marshall’s tradition has taught the kids what kind of work ethic they need to get where they want to be, and the players are all working their hardest to get to that point, Marshall head coach Terry Bahlmann said when asked what has allowed Marshall to return to the section championship for the fourth year in a row.

“A lot of times, we might not look like the best team getting off the bus, but our kids play hard and I think people appreciate that, and then they just stay the course,” Bahlmann said. “We always talk to the kids about just staying the course, and once your time comes, you’ll step in, you’ll know your job and execute, and our kids do that. Our coaches do a great job of putting them in good spots.”

Hutchinson punted after running its way to a pair of first downs on the game’s first possession, and Marshall ran the ball right back through the Hutchinson defense.

Tyler Kraft ran for four first downs on the opening drive, and Levi Maeyaert ran a bootleg out to his right before throwing a screen to JR Vierstraete on the opposite side of the field for Marshall’s other first down of the possession.

“I just knew what I had to get. It’s just a couple of yards, so I was just trying to get that first down and shove it in there for three or four yards to keep the chains moving,” Kraft said. “Our linemen are the heart and pride of our team. Without those linemen, our running backs aren’t going to be good… they move the ball, they’re pushing the line, and big gaps just open up.”

Hutchinson stuffed Marshall on its first three attempts from the goalline, but Stelter ran the ball in on fourth-and-goal to give Marshall a 7-0 lead in the final minute of the first quarter.

Stelter finished the night as Marshall’s leading rusher with 14 carries for 108 yards and a trio of touchdowns. Beyond Stelter, everybody ate in the Tigers’ backfield. Kraft also finished with eight carries for 31 yards, Sam Meier contributed four carries for 80 yards and Milo Swenson finished with three carries for 16 yards.

“I love to coach offensive linemen and we take pride in what we’re doing,” Bahlmann said. “We’re a little shorter, but if we run our techniques and play hard, good things are going to happen. Our guys play hard and good things happen. Hutch, we know they’re a physical team… and we like to play the same way, and we made huge plays on both sides of the ball, but I think the special teams play was one of the big ones in the game.”

The team’s lack of egos also helps with its ability to get so many players involved in the run game, Bahlmann said. He added that he feels like there’s no egos on the Tigers, and that all of the players just want to see team success, so it’s easy for the team to move the ball around in ways that give opposing defenses problems.

Hutchinson struggled on special teams all night long, muffing several Marshall punts and kicks, including one that set up a Tiger touchdown.

Marshall’s punt after its second offensive possession bounced off a Hutchinson leg and Dawson DeCamp recovered the live ball to give the hometown Tigers the ball right back at the Hutchinson 14. It didn’t take Marshall long to find the end zone from there, as Stelter rumbled and stumbled his way along the sideline for a 12-yard run on the first play of the drive, and was rewarded on the next snap with a handoff up the middle for a touchdown to double Marshall’s lead with eight minutes left in the half.

Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall Andrew Stelter (1) sheds a tackle during a Section 2AAAA semifinal matchup against Hutchinson on Saturday at Mattke Field in Marshall.

Maeyaert completed four of his seven pass attempts for 27 yards, but his biggest contributions came on the ground, where he carried the ball five times for 60 yards and a score.

“A few of those were improvised. With our offensive line, they’re doing the best they can and they can bring an extra guy to block, and then coach wrote up a couple of good ones,” Maeyaert said of his rushing performance. “Credit to our offensive line, [Aidan] Erickson had a couple of good blocks, Kael Frana leading the way, and then the rest of them obviously just did a really good job.”

Hutchinson worked a slow, methodical drive into the red zone despite injuries to Jack Maiers and Tuker Finnell. Hutchinson ran the ball every play of the drive, getting to the 9-yard line with just over a minute left in the half, but Maeyaert ripped the ball loose on first-and-goal to give Marshall the ball back and allow the hometown Tigers to head into the locker room with a 14-0 lead at the midway point.

On its first possession of the second half, Marshall didn’t take long to find the end zone. The hometown Tigers again went ground-and-pound until Stelter popped a run outside the numbers, shed a pair of tacklers and made a 47-yard house call to give Marshall a 21-0 lead.

Grady Campbell drew a pass interference call on third-and-long on Hutchinson’s ensuing offensive possession to keep the chains moving near midfield, but a false start helped Marshall eventually force a fourth-and-7 from the 50.

The visiting Tigers went for the conversion, but Vierstaete came up with a big hit by the sticks. After the officiating crew brought out the chains, they ruled that the runner was short of the line to gain and Marshall took over at the 45.

Maeyaert’s legs took over from there for Marshall. Facing a third down from midfield, Maeyaert scrambled out to his left under pressure before reversing course for a 17-yard gain on the ground. He hurdled a tackler to advance the ball from the 27 to the 15, and broke loose again for a 15-yard touchdown run to bring Marshall’s lead to 28 points with two minutes left in the third quarter.

Despite Marshall’s stifling run defense, Hutchinson continued to attempt to pound the rock. It wasn’t until the final seven minutes of the game that the visiting Tigers attempted their first pass, which sailed well over the head of a receiver.

Marshall brought up a safety to the line of scrimmage for the second half to try to force Hutchinson to change its game plan a little, Bahlmann said. He cited that Hutchinson has been run-heavy all season and ran the ball on 96% of its plays while averaging 40 points per game in the four games leading up to Saturday’s semifinal matchup, so Marshall was expecting Hutchinson to go run-heavy and he felt like his players and coaches responded well to Hutchinson’s game plan.

Still, Hutchinson’s late-game drive kept on churning, culminating in quarterback Graydon Rostberg connecting with Landon Teetzel on a back-shoulder grab in the end zone to avoid the shutout with three minutes left in regulation.

Sam Meier got the points right back for Marshall, however. The Marshall sophomore picked up a first down on second-and-3 to effectively ice the game, and then broke off a 65-yard touchdown run on the next play to officially ice the game with a 35-7 lead with 1:57 to play.

Marshall also nearly scored the drive before Hutchinson found the end zone for the first time. The Tigers worked the ball deep into Hutchinson territory, getting into the red zone before the drive stalled out. Marshall attempted to go for it on fourth down, but Ethan Boeck wasn’t able to haul in the diving grab after the pass to him in the end zone was tipped at the line of scrimmage.

Marshall will take on Rocori in the Section 2AAAA championship game in Marshall on Friday at 7 p.m. A win would send Marshall to the state tournament for the second consecutive season.

“That was one of our goals coming into this season. We took care of one [goal] by going undefeated to start the season, and this is our next one to win sections,” Maeyaert said.

Last year’s run to the state semifinals broke a six-year state tournament drought for Marshall and sent the Tigers to US Bank Stadium for the first time since 2016.

Friday will mark Marshall’s second game of the season against Rocori. The Tigers pulled away in the second half for a 28-0 win after going into halftime with a 7-0 lead by scoring on the last play of the first half when the teams last met. Marshall has also since lost starting cornerback Jayden Meister, who had a 96-yard pick 6 in the win.​

Marshall expects it to be a very physical game, Bahlmann said, noting that the Spartans have a pair of offensive linemen committed to Division I programs with Andrew Trout heading to the University of Minnesota and Brody Woods headed to the University of North Dakota.

“They’re going to come out and play physical football. They like to spread it out and throw it, but they’ve run a single wing lately that’s really benefited them there,” Bahlmann said. “Their defense is tough; we’re going to have to be at our best.”