Photo by Jake McNeill: The Marshall football team celebrates its win over Rocori in the 2AAAA championship game on Friday at Mattke Field in Marshall as defensive end JR Vierstraete (3) holds up a large state tournament ticket.

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MARSHALL — After facing an early deficit on Friday night, the Marshall football team is once again state tournament-bound. The top-seeded Tigers hosted No. 2 Rocori in the Section 2AAAA championship and closed the game with 22 unanswered points to claim a 22-7 win.

The game marked Marshall’s fourth consecutive season in the section championship game. After falling shy of a win the first two of those seasons, Marshall defeated Hutchinson in last year’s state tournament before also winning a quarterfinal match to reach the state semifinals in US Bank Stadium for the first time since 2016.

Marshall fell into a touchdown deficit early in the second quarter but didn’t take long to get its mojo back. Just minutes after Rocori scored the go-ahead touchdown, Levi Maeyaert found Cash Willer streaking over the middle. Willer didn’t stop at the catch, taking the ball all the way to the house for a 55-yard touchdown.

Rocori appeared poised to respond with its own, converting a fourth-and-inches on a direct snap and working its way into Marshall territory. Yet, Marshall forced another fourth-and-4, and this time Shep Jensen came up with the tackle to get the turnover on downs.

Marshall responded by marching late in the quarter before stalling out with two-and-a-half minutes until the break. Marshall lined up to punt the ball, but instead gave it to Andrew Stelter on a fake punt for a 12-yard gain to keep the drive alive. The Tigers again stalled out in the red zone, but Clay Clay drilled the go-ahead field goal with 9 seconds left in the half and Marshall remained in control for the remainder of the game.

Stelter led Marshall’s run-heavy offense with 18 carries for 144 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the game while JR Vierstraete and Sam Meier contributed another 17 and 20, respectively, with all of Vierstraete’s coming on one play.

In the passing game, Maeyaert completed four of his 13 pass attempts for 86 yards while also rushing 0 times for 41 yards.

On its second possession of the second half, Marshall began to bolster its lead. Stelter found a gap next to the right guard and flipped the field from the Marshall 43 to the Rocori 35.

Logan Eickhoff followed up with another big gain, hauling in a 14-yard reception to get into the red zone, and Marshall eventually capitalized on the opportunity with a two-yard touchdown run. While the Tigers’ point-after attempt doinked off the crossbar, the score still gave Marshall a 16-7 lead with six minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Brody Riess came up with a big third-down stop on the Spartans’ ensuing possession to force a punt, and Marshall once again seized the opportunity. Stelter broke off an 11-yard chunk to get to the Rocori 47-yard line and got outside for a 21-yard run to the 20 a few plays later.

The Spartans forced Marshall into a fourth-and-1 from the 10, but Stelter once again delivered with the conversion up the middle before stiffarming his way to a 6-yard touchdown on the next play. While Marshall was unable to convert its 2-point attempt, the Tigers still held a 22-7 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Rocori scored the game’s first touchdown three minutes into the second quarter, when Caleb Maddox found a gap in the secondary and broke through into the endzone for a 47-yard touchdown.

Less than a minute into the second half, Carter Manthei intercepted a pass near midfield and weaved his way all the way to the end zone. The return was brought back due to a block in the back, however, and the Tigers were eventually forced to punt.

Rocori threatened to score late in the game when Caleb Maddox caught a 10-yard pass to flip the field and Noah Olmscheid caught a 17-yard pass to bring the Spartans to the 10. Yet, Stelter shifted the momentum with a 10-yard sack on first down and Cannon Craigmile came up with a pressure on fourth-and-17 to give Marshall the ball back with seven minutes to play.

While Marshall was unable to generate offensive momentum on the possession, its defense closed the game out shortly thereafter. Vierstraete forced quarterback Max Fredin out of the pocket before Tyson Louwagie forced him out of bounds for a third-and-long from the 15. Fredin completed a 14-yard pass on the next play to set up fourth-and-1, but the ball was dropped and the Tigers took over on downs.

In the waning minutes of the game, Marshall took a knee with 1:55 to play. Rocori had all three timeouts, however, and forced Marshall to play out the remaining minutes. The Tigers were eventually stopped on fourth-and-1, but Shep Jensen came up with a fourth-down deflection to allow Marshall to clinch the game in victory formation.

Marshall remains undefeated at a perfect 10-0 on the season as it heads into the postseason. The Tigers will look to keep that perfect record intact when the Class AAAA state quarterfinals kick off on Thursday.

Teams are seeded 1-4 in each of the North and South divisions in the Class 4A tournament. The 1-4 matchup will be held at Blaine High School at 6 p.m. while the 2-3 matchup will be held at Stillwater at 7 p.m. Seeding will be determined today.