Photo by Derek Hisken: Marshall running back Andrew Stelter (1) and offensive guard Kael Frana celebrate a touchdown during the Tigers' Class AAAA quarterfinal win over Totino-Grace in Blaine on Thursday.

BLAINE — A series of big runs from Andrew Stelter and the Tigers’ typical stout defense gave the Marshall football team its second consecutive Class AAAA quarterfinal win on Thursday. Stelter broke off a pair of long touchdowns in the first half and Marshall’s defense never let fourth-seeded Totino-Grace’s offense get in gear as the Tigers picked up a 21-3 win to return to US Bank Stadium for the state semifinals next week.

“It’s a weird feeling tonight. We probably didn’t play our best game of the year, and we’re a little disappointed with that, but we won and we move forward,” Marshall head coach Terry Bahlmann said. “We had nine penalties, and that’s uncharacteristic of this team… but we won and are going to the Bank again, going to play a good Orono team, so it will be a lot of fun.”

Marshall started its opening drive at its own 9-yard line but didn’t take long to get things going. After getting a pair of first downs, Andrew Stelter found the gap to break off a 67-yard run. He was marked down at the 1-yard line after being tackled into the end zone, but he spun through a tackle two plays later to give Marshall a 7-0 lead four minutes into the game.

In the waning minutes of the first half, Marshall received a punt deep in its own territory but worked its way down the field with a series of runs. After the Tigers pounded their way into Totino-Grace territory, Stelter broke off another 30-yard run to give the Tigers a 14-0 lead.

Stelter finished the day with 21 rushing attempts for 162 yards to lead the Tigers’ offense. Milo Swenson and Tyler Kraft each also contributed 22 rushing yards while Levi Maeyaert added another 19.

“[Stelter’s] just a leader. He’s our go-to-guy and he’s done a great job all year,” Bahlmann said. “We did a good job on those first two [touchdowns]. I’d like to see him break that first one, got tackled at the one, but he’s that kind of playmaker for us and he stepped up big when we needed it.”

Turnovers came early and often after the Tigers’ first scoring drive. Marshall forced a 3-and-out on the Eagles’ ensuing possession but muffed the punt to give Totino-Grace the ball at the 32. Marshall forced a turnover on downs to escape the drive unscathed.

Maeyaert threw an interception before picking one off as a defensive back going the other way, returning it from the 10 to midfield. Still, the Tigers turned the ball over on downs before Totino-Grace punted once again.

“Our defense has been the key all year and they rose up when we offensively struggled,” Bahlmann said. “We weren’t very good on blocking people, that’s running backs and o-line, and we struggled at times to move the ball. I don’t know if, when we hit the first one to Andrew right away, if everybody thought it was going to be really easy and then relaxed a little bit, but give [Totino-Grace] some credit. They’ve been 11-time state champs and they had a good scheme against us.”

“I give our coaches a lot of credit, they’re always scheming something really good up and we just go out there and execute,” Marshall linebacker Aidan Bly said of the team’s defensive success. “I think we’re all a brotherhood and we all trust each other, and that really helps us a lot.”

With two minutes remaining in the half, Totino-Grace converted a series of first downs to get into Marshall territory. Among those first downs was an outside run on third down, with a late hit penalty against the Tigers advancing the ball to the Marshall 22. The Eagles weren’t able to move much further from there, but Luke Brandt hit a 35-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to cut Marshall’s lead to 14-3 at the midway point.

Totino-Grace received the second-half kickoff with the opportunity to make it a one-possession game. The Eagles completed a pass over the middle on third-and-5 of their first set of downs, but it was called back for a holding penalty and Bly recovered a strip sack on the second attempt to set Marshall up at the 15-yard line.

“I was just really trying to play it safe there,” Bly said of diving on the ball. “I probably could have done a little scoop-and-score there, but at the moment, I just wanted to keep it safe. It was a close game, just let our offense go to work.”

Two plays after the turnover, Stelter caught a swing pass from the 11-yard line. He tiptoed his way along the sideline to get into the end zone and complete the hat trick, giving Marshall a 21-3 lead three minutes after halftime.

The Tigers converted a fourth-and-1 from their own 36 later in the third quarter, and Maeyaert showed off the legs from there. He broke off a 13-yard run to get to midfield and followed up with another 11-yard run.

The Eagles were called for unnecessary roughness on the latter of the two runs, bringing Marshall to the 24, but Totino-Grace locked down from there and stopped Marshall on its second fourth-down conversion attempt of the drive to take over at the 16.

Marshall pushed Totino-Grace back to a third-and-16 from the 11, but the Eagles converted a deep ball to move the chains. A hard hit on the play resulted the receiver exiting due to injury, but he held onto the ball to keep the Eagles’ hopes alive.

They didn’t stay alive for long. JR Vierstraete recovered a loose ball a few short plays later and got moving downfield, returning it past midfield to give Marshall possession at the 46 with eight minutes left.

Ben Bergen returned an interception for a touchdown for Totino-Grace in the final minute, cutting Marshall’s lead down to 21-9 after the Eagles missed the 2-point conversion attempt.

Marshall improves to 11-0 with the win and will compete in the state semifinals at US Bank Stadium on Nov. 13 at 10:30 a.m. The Tigers will take on Orono, the No. 3 seed from the South, after the Spartans defeated Fergus Falls 36-14 in Thursday’s quarterfinal. Marshall defeated Orono 13-12 when the two teams met in Marshall on Oct. 3. Both teams were ranked in the top 5 in the state when they last met.

“Last time it was a battle, and it’s going to be that kind of game,” Bahlmann said. “They have great size, obviously a really good football team. It’s going to be a game we’ve got to clean up our stuff from this week. And I’m sure our kids will respond, enjoy it this weekend, go and support the volleyball team [at the state semifinals] tomorrow and then come back next week with a huge week. We’re going to have a great week of practice and then go to US Bank, where it’s warm.”