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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
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MARSHFIELD – Every football coach strives to have his team continue to improve throughout the course of the season, and to be playing its best come playoff time.
While most teams plateau at some point, Marshfield has defied those odds.
The Tigers’ magical playoff run continued Saturday. Behind 313 yards passing from junior quarterback Elliot Ashbeck and a stingy defense, Marshfield ousted Menomonie 21-14 in a WIAA Division 2 Level 3 playoff game Saturday afternoon at Beell Stadium to advance to the state semifinals for the second time in the last three years and the seventh time in school history.
The Tigers (8-3), who have won five straight games after a shaky start to the season, will play Cedarburg (11-1) in a Division 2 semifinal at 4 p.m. Saturday at Appleton North High School. The WIAA originally announced the game would be at UW-Stevens Point, but it was changed on Sunday. The winner moves on to the WIAA Division 2 state championship game on Nov. 19 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.
“If you talk to any coach, they would say that they want their team to get better week-to-week,” Marshfield coach Denny Goettl said. “I can honestly say that we have gotten better week-to-week. The kids are blocking hard, everyone knows their assignments – things are happening for us.
“We turned the ball over again today, and if we can eliminate that, we have a chance to win another game.”
The Tigers wasted little time making a statement. On the second offensive play of the game, Ashbeck hit fullback Brad Dolezal with a short pass and the senior raced 62 yards for a touchdown just 28 seconds into the game.
Marshfield missed a field goal on its next possession, which seemed to take the wind out of its sails a bit. Menomonie took advantage when Joey Neeb raced 48 yards for a touchdown with 20 seconds to go in the first quarter to tie the game at 7-7.
A pair of big plays swung the momentum back the Tigers way. Trevor Peterson recovered a fumble and on the next play Ashbeck hit tight end Tyler Rollins for a 44-yard touchdown. After a three-and-out, Marshfield needed just four plays to go 41 yards and Todd Vantassel scored on a 20-yard run to give the Tigers a 21-7 lead, which they held going into halftime.
Ashbeck completed eight passes to five different receivers for 189 yards in the first half and the Tigers’ defense held Menomonie to just four first downs and four three-and-out drives.
“The first time we played them we had some drops and they run a man-to-man coverage,” Ashbeck said. “We have a good group of receivers and can get open one-on-one, we weren’t worried about that – it was protecting and with time, I could deliver. We missed some opportunities here and there, but we had enough to hold on to win and that’s all that really counts.”
Marshfield had some big plays in the second half, including five passing plays of 11 yards or more, but couldn’t get into the end zone. That left it up to the defense to seal the deal.
Menomonie drove inside Tigers’ territory four times in the third quarter and early part of the fourth behind the arm of quarterback Neico Stokke, but each time Marshfield turned them back.
The Indians finally found paydirt when Stokke, who the for 191 of his 209 yards in the second half, hit Colin Jacott for an 11-yard touchdown pass with 3:41 to go, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 21-14.
Marshfield recovered an onside kick attempt and Ashbeck hit Ian Padron for 30 yards, swinging field position. The Tigers were held on a fourth down-and-9, leaving the Indians with 2:08 left on the clock and 78 yards to go for the potential tying touchdown.
After a 15-yard completion by Stokke to Jacott, senior Mike Schara had Marshfield’s third sack of the game, pushing Menomonie back to the 30. The Indians couldn’t muster another first down and Marshfield ran out the final 1:11 on the clock to secure the win.
“Coach (Len) Luedtke does a fantastic job (with the defense) and has the prepared every week,” Ashbeck said. “We have a lot of young guys – there are two sophomores starting – but their ready to play. We are all battle-tested now. We know our defense isn’t going to give up more than 20 points, at the most, so if we can score three touchdowns, we’ll be alright, and that’s what we did tonight.”
The Tigers have a number of players off their defense who are injured, but they have been able to battle game after game, improving each week. Now, Marshfield sits one game away from its sixth state finals appearance in the last 14 seasons and first since 2004.
“We went through some ups and downs, with a lot of guys getting hurt, but being one game away from state is amazing,” Peterson said. “We just need one more win, and we’re going there.”
Tigers 21, Indians 14
Menomonie 7 0 0 7 – 14
Marshfield 7 14 0 0 – 21
First quarter
MAR – Brad Dolezal 62 pass from Elliot Ashbeck (Gus Utech kick), 11:32.
MEN – Joey Neeb 48 run (Nick Didier kick), 0:20.
Second quarter
MAR – Tyler Rollins 44 pass from Ashbeck (Utech kick), 6:53.
MAR – Todd Vantassel 20 run (Utech kick), 4:12.
Fourth quarter
MEN – Colin Jacott 11 pass from Neico Stokke (Didier kick), 3:41.
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs: Menomonie 12, Marshfield 11.
Rushing (att-yards): Menomonie 39-138, Marshfield 30-109.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): Menomonie 17-33-209-0, Marshfield 16-31-313-0.
Penalties: Menomonie none, Marshfield 6-48.
Fumbles (total-lost): Menomonie 3-2, Marshfield 1-1.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Men, Joey Neeb 14-79, Drew Otto 6-53, Aaron White 3-5, James Heimier 2-1, Neico Stokke 14-0. Mar, Todd Vantassel 13-68, Brad Dolezal 9-56, Riley Gebelein 1-3, Cody Tarnowski 1-0, Elliot Ashbeck 6-minus 18.
Passing: Men, Stokke 17-31-209-0, James Nelson 0-2-0-0, Lex Pelke 0-1-0-0. Mar, Ashbeck 16-31-313-0.
Receiving: Men, Otto 7-81, Colin Jacott 5-63, Jimmy Benrud 2-40, Neeb 2-9, Blake Bauer 1-16. Mar, Dolezal 5-102, Tyler Rollins 3-63, Jake Lisiecki 2-53, Ian Padron 2-42, Vantassel 2-18, Austin Littmann 1-30, Payton Marshall 1-5.
Fumble recoveries (defense): Men, Nick Didier. Mar, Trevor Peterson, Logan Schmitz.
Punting: Men, Lex Pelke 8-37.5 avg. Mar, Gus Utech 6-36.8 avg.
Records: Menomonie 10-2, Marshfield 8-3.