Photo by Jake McNeill: The Marshall football team stands on the sideline after falling to Orono in the Class AAAA state semifinals at USBank Stadium in Minneapolis on Thursday.

MINNEAPOLIS — Despite scoring on the first possession of overtime in its Class AAAA semifinal matchup against Orono on Thursday, the Marshall football team fell short of earning its way to the state championship game for the first time ever. The Spartans converted a 17-yard 2-point conversion attempt to walk off the Tigers, handing Marshall its first loss of the season, 15-14.

Andrew Stelter gave Marshall a spark to start overtime, taking two carries to find the end zone and give Marshall a 14-7 lead after Clay Clay converted the extra point. Still, the Tigers needed to stop Orono from the 10 in order to secure the win.

The Tigers considered going for 2 after the touchdown but instead opted for the kick with the expectation that Orono would need to score twice to beat them, Marshall head coach Terry Bahlmann said after the loss. He added that his team’s defense was a strength that they were confident enough to live and die by.

On the Spartans’ first play, Brody Riess applied heavy pressure to force Orono quarterback Griffin Mauer to roll out of the pocket. Yet, Orono kept his eyes downfield on the scramble drill, finding Simon Vinton for the touchdown.

In the excitement of the moment, Vinton spiked the ball, drawing a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Still, the Spartans elected to go for the win with a 2-point conversion anyway. Once again, Marshall got pressure fast and forced Mauer out of the pocket. Once again, Mauer rose to the occasion and found Lincoln Stinar on the right side of the end zone, and Stinar got in both feet to give Orono the walk-off win and the first state championship appearance in program history.

After the heartbreaking loss, the silence in the postgame press conference was palpable. Yet, even in the immediate wake of the loss, the Tigers were able to find some level of appreciation for all that they had accomplished over the course of the season.

“It’s not often that someone gets two opportunities from back-to-back years to go to the Bank, so we’re just grateful,” Marshall quarterback Levi Maeyaert said after the game.

“Going into this season, people weren’t really expecting us to be that good of a football team,” Marshall defensive end JR Vierstraete said. “Our seniors, our leaders, our captains, I think we came together and got everyone to work. We all worked all summer and we just were united.”

The game was the second played this season between the two teams. Both times, the game was decided by a single point after Marshall claimed a 13-12 win during the regular season.

“You look at [Orono], they’ve got a big, strong, good-looking athletes out there,” Bahlmann said, noting that this team also made it to USBank

Marshall played the toughest schedule in Class AAAA based on the Quality Ranking Formula used by the Minnesota State High School League, Bahlmann noted, with three of their 11 wins coming against teams that went to the state tournament.

“You keep playing good teams, something’s going to happen,” Bahlmann said. “They converted a PAT from the 18-yard line on us, and their kid made a heck of a play. But I thought our kids played hard and we’re really proud of our efforts.”

Orono outgained Marshall by 73 yards in the first half, including a 103-17 edge in passing yardage, but the Tigers found new life in the second half. Marshall forced Orono to punt for the first time on the opening possessions after the Spartans went 0 for 3 on fourth down in the first half and went to work from the 43.

Stelter got the ball moving when he stiffarmed his way to a 21-yard gain before being gang-tackled at the Orono 43-yard line. The Tigers continued to move the ball on the ground until a defensive pass interference call against Owen Paulsen on a pass attempt to Cash Willer set Marshall up at the 36, its best field position of the day.

Orono’s defense locked in to set up a fourth-and-1 from the 13, but Maeyaert hit Rocco Rignell on a short curl to set up first-and-goal from the 7 and Stelter coasted into the end zone two plays later for the tying touchdown with 76 seconds left in the third quarter.

Stelter had 42 yards on six carries on the drive after being held to 30 yards in the first half. He finished the day with a game-high 100 rushing yards on 21 carries, while Tyler Kraft and Maeyaert each also had more than 20 yards in the game. As a team, Marshall outrushed Orono 166-38.

“After halftime, our team just came together as one. Everyone was playing together,” Stelter said of his second-half spark.

On its second possession of the game, Orono was backed up to its own 9-yard line after a five-yard tackle-for-loss by Brody Riess and a short gain on second. Yet, Griffin Mauer made some magic on third-and-13, threading a pass down the seam to Adrian Licursi for a 30-yard gain to keep the chains moving.

Hudson Hirt kept the momentum flowing with a pair of runs for a combined 18 yards to get past midfield, and Mauer ran a keeper for five yards to pick up another first down on the first play of the second quarter.

After calling the game’s first timeout, the Spartans also opened up the game’s scoring. Mauer unleashed a deep ball into the end zone, which was deflected by Carter Manthei, but Bennett Halverson made the adjustment as he fell to the ground to make the tip-drill touchdown catch. Manthei was also called for pass interference on the play, with the penalty enforced on the kickoff after Orono claimed a 7-0 lead 48 seconds into the second quarter.

In the final minute of regulation, Milo Swenson put up a perfect punt to pin the Spartans at their own 1-yard line. The Tigers applied pressure on first down, but Rory Kvern dove forward after catching a screen pass to just barely escape the end zone. The Tigers forced an incompletion on second, but Mauer found Halverson for a 13-yard gain on third to prevent Marshall from getting one last chance to score at the end of regulation.

“We were close to safeties twice there, they just got it out of there,” Bahlmann said, adding that there were a handful of plays for both teams that could have shifted the game either way. “I don’t feel like we played very well in the first half, don’t know if it was jitters or what, but second half, we settled down and played our style. I felt like we had momentum most of the second half. We just couldn’t get that play to break our way.”

Marshall’s run game started to find its footing on the ensuing drive as the Tigers picked up a series of first downs with consistent rushing progress. Yet, Grant Eslinger forced the ball loose on a Kraft carry. Max Spronk scooped up the fumble and was taken down on a facemask from Stelter, giving the Spartans possession at the 40-yard line.

While the Spartans started the drive with strong field position, the Tiger defense locked in when it needed to. After Orono advanced the ball to the 22, Tyson Louwagie came up with a tackle-for-loss on first down and Vierstraete ripped down Mauer by the hem of his shirt on second for a nine-yard loss.

Following a third-down overthrow, the Spartans elected to go for it on fourth-and-21. Yet, Braedyn VanMeveren burst through the middle of the line and came up with an eight-yard sack to take over at the Marshall 41-yard line.

Marshall finished the day with four sacks, including 1.5 from Vierstraete and one each from Cannon Craigmile and VanMeveren. Vierstraete’s 2.5 tackles for loss and nine total tackles were each also team-highs, while Manthei logged six solo tackles.

Lucas La Belle led the Orono defense with 17 total and eight solo tackles, followed by 11 total tackles from Eslinger. The Orono defense got to Maeyaert for a sack just once in the game.

Marshall went on to punt again on its final drive of the half and Orono responded by marching past midfield in the final minute. Yet, Vierstraete and Louwagie sacked Mauer in the waning seconds before the break, leaving the Spartans with 7 seconds to work with from the 45, and a fourth-down incompletion left the Orono lead at a touchdown at the halfway point.

Mauer completed 14 of his 23 pass attempts for 140 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Halverson hauled in a game-high four catches for 73 yards.

Marshall finishes its season at 11-1 with the loss. While many had lowered expectations for the Tigers after graduating a strong senior class from last year’s run to the state semifinals, Marshall again worked its way back to prove the doubters wrong and reach the state semifinals again for the third time in program history.

“We knew coming in that we lost a lot of guys last year, but these guys stepped up a lot,” Maeyaert said, adding that he felt the Tigers’ win over Hutchinson in the regular season was one that showed how much the team had come together and what they were capable of.

The Tigers graduate a senior class that includes Stelter, Vierstraete, Maeyaert, Louwagie, Swenson, Aidan Erickson, Leyton Wherry, Shep Jensen, Eli Weedman, Angel Chavarna, Aiden Bly, Dawson DeCamp, Jayden Randall, Ethan Mattison, Noah Kesteloot, Brock Swanson, Max Parks, Clayton Jones, Logan Eickhoff and Javier Valdovinos.