MARSHALL –Heading into its third-ever state semifinal appearance, the Marshall football team will look to reach a new high and break through to the state championship for the first time in program history today. The Class AAAA South’s top-seeded Tigers take on the North’s third-seeded Orono in the semifinals at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis with kickoff slated for 10:30 a.m.

The Tigers snapped a six-year state tournament drought last season and picked up a quarterfinal win over Byron before falling to eventual state champion Becker in the semifinals. Marshall graduated a strong core of seniors after making its first semifinal appearance since 2016, leading some to doubt if Marshall would be able to duplicate that success this season, but it found a way to come back even stronger.

“I think our senior group together [has allowed us to overcome those losses] and just believing and working hard every day,” Marshall head coach Terry Bahlmann said. “They’ve been a great group to work with and they worked on improvement. I think sometimes that gets overlooked. We have some smart football players. They’re intelligent… and with that, we’re able to do a lot of different things. They believe in our system and obviously we’ve had a lot of success this season with it.”

Today’s game will mark the second time this season that Marshall and Orono have met after the Tigers squeaked out a 13-12 win over the Spartans. Andrew Stelter scored the game-winning touchdown 45 seconds into the fourth quarter and finished the game with 72 rushing yards on 21 carries, as well as a team-leading three catches for 25 yards.

Today’s game will be differnt than the last one, Bahlmann said, saying that every game is different and every team comes into each matchup a little banged up at this point in the year. He cited the way Rocori stacked the box against Marshall the second time around in the section championship game after Marshall had defeated them in the regular season as one example of how teams adjust, but also said that he feels that his team has shown an ability to adjust too, such as the way it found success running the ball outside instead of its usual between-the-tackles style in that game.

Ground-and-pound football has been a staple of Marshall under Bahlmann’s leadership. The Tigers’ offensive line has oonsistently been able to play with technique that paves the path for a strong run game even when Marshall is at a size disadvantage in the trenches. Defensively, Marshall has also perennially been one of the most dominant forces in the state and is once again holding opponents to 6.2 points per game, resuliting in an 11-0 record for the Tigers and a plus-26.5 average margin of victory.

“I think the way we play, our physicality and our defense, we just keep pounding away, Bahlmann said. “We’ve been able to wear some teams down. And our defense is giving up less than a touchdown a game, and the competition we’ve played has been outstanding this season. And our ability to rush the ball lately, Andrew Stelter has I believe 24 touchdowns, so those kind of things, we just wear on people. Not a lot of people play our style anymore, so I think that plays to our advantage.”

In addition to Stelter, the Tigers’ run game has been deep with Tyler Kraft, Milo Swenson and Sam Meier each also providing consistent options with a dash of explosiveness in the backfield. Quarterback Levi Maeyaert has also shown an ability to scramble and has been particularly elusive in the open field down the final stretch of the season.

On the defensive side of the ball, Bahlmann cited four-year starter JR Vierstraete and senior linebackers Tyson Louwagie and Stelter as key factors in the defense’s continued success, but added that he feels like defensive tackle Braedyn Van Meveren has been an unsung her of sorts in the way he can anchor the middle and draw a double team as a nose guard.

Orono enters the semifinals at 8-3 on the seasonfalling to then-No. 1 Byron in week 2, Marshall on Oct. 3 and Delano on Oct. 10. Since then, however, the Spartans have won four consecutive games and have averaged 30.2 points per game while giving up 11.6.

Part of the Spartans’ offensive success is its offensive versatility. Griffin Mauer has thrown for 1,290 yards to date with 14 touchdowns on two interceptions, and Bennett Halverson has been an elite pass-catcher with 26 catches for 409 yards and six touchdowns. Still, Orono’s run game is also deadly; Rory Kvern and Hudson Hirt have run for 514 and 471 yards, respectively, with nine touchdowns from Kvern, while Mauer’s legs have also been an asset with 607 yards and 10 touchdowns.

On the defensive side of the ball, Simon Vinton leads the team’s pass rush with four sacks and 62 total tackles while Lincoln Stinar has come up with three interceptions in the secondary.

Tickets for today’s Class AAAA semifinals are available on mshsl.org/tickets. Adult tickets cost $16 while students cost $10. Live stats are also available on the Minnesota State High School League website, and a stream of the game can be found on NSPN.TV for a monthly subscription cost of $12.