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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield football team and its coaching staff knows they will have their hands full when they take on 11-1 Cedarburg on Saturday at Appleton North High School.
Then again, it is the state semifinals, so Cedarburg should be thinking the same thing.
The Tigers (8-3), riding a five-game winning streak, will battle Cedarburg for a spot in the WIAA Division 2 state championship game at 4 p.m. Saturday. The Division 2 title game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 19 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.
Cedarburg features a rushing attack led by 195-pound running back Logan Lauters, a senior who has ran for 2,363 yards and 30 touchdowns this season. Wingback Hudson Walton has added another 523 yards on the ground, averaging 11.1 yards per carry. The Bulldogs have more than 500 rushing attempts and quarterback Ryan Ramuta has just 74 passing attempts in their run-heavy attack.
“(Lauters) is a big kid, big thick legs and runs the ball extremely hard and they have a humongous offensive line,” Marshfield’s first-year head coach Denny Goettl said. “We have to be aggressive and play without any regrets, give all you’ve got. If we lineup correctly, play our holes and the big D-line does the best they can up front, I think the linebackers are playing good enough that they can try to keep them intact.
“When they run their double-wing stuff, the other kids are pretty phenomenal too. They’re a great team, but there are only four of us left in the state in Division 2, so what do you expect?”
The Tigers will counter with a defense that has allowed just 14 points in the last six quarters and a 2.7 yards per rush average during their three-game playoff run.
Marshfield has been susceptible to the pass, giving up more than 200 yards to both Hortonville and Menomonie in its last two games, but stopping the run is what is most important to the defense.
“As a team, we kind of trust each other a little more,” junior linebacker Justin Sternweis said of the Tigers’ improving run defense. “I can sit back and take one side while they (the line) take the other side and it’s been working for us.
“They have a really good running back and don’t have much of a passing game, so I think if we can stop the run, we’re going to win the game.”
Marshfield has a veteran front line led by seniors Mike Schara and Dylan Wrege that is backed up by underclassmen such as Sternweis, sophomore Ross Zillman and junior defensive end/outside linebacker Trevor Peterson. The latter three have been the key playmakers on the Tigers’ defense thanks to the improved play up front.
“The evolution of this whole year is amazing,” Goettl said. “It’s happened at the right time. (Assistant coach) Jerry Littmann said in the beginning of the season that we have a lot of upside. Maybe it’s showing now. The young kids are stepping in – the kids we needed to get better are getting better. The D-linemen are down taking their gaps and doing what they’re supposed to do and not looking to make tackles and be heroes. The linebackers are now able to move and see and make tackles.”
Offensively, Marshfield has been capitalizing on its big-play potential. Six of the 10 touchdowns the Tigers have scored in the last two games have been from at least 20 yards out.
An unlikely source of some of those big plays has been fullback Brad Dolezal. Dolezal, who said he wasn’t even sure coming into camp whether he would be playing offense or defense, has scored three touchdowns in a 49-23 win over Hortonville two weeks ago, which including a 42-yard TD run, and he had five catches for 102 yards and a 62-yard touchdown on the game’s second play a week ago against Menomonie.
Dolezal is second on the team in receptions with 28 for 398 yards. He has added 443 yards on the ground and has scored 14 total touchdowns.
“It kind of worked out where I was sticking with the offense,” Dolezal said. “Some guys got hurt and I had to step up in the fullback position and it’s been good. In the past at running back it’s all been running. The screen swings and some deeper passes is all new, but it’s worked well for us and mix up our game.”
Junior Elliot Ashbeck has evolved into the every-down quarterback after splitting time through the first six games with senior Chris Stemen. Ashbeck has thrown for an average of 217 yards during Marshfield’s five-game winning streak, including a career-high 313 yards and two touchdowns last week against Menomonie.
Senior wide receivers Jake Lisiecki (team-high 29 catches, 388 yards, two TDs) and Ian Padron (25 catches, team-high 474 yards, five TDs) are among Ashbeck’s other favorite targets.
The passing game will be a key again for the Tigers this week.
“We’ve got to use what they do against them,” Goettl said of Cedarburg’s defense. “They’ve shown against some teams that throw the football that if our quarterback and receivers are going to be smart enough, I think we’ll be able to move the football. We have some guys that can catch the football and run. We just have to get some first downs and not get our defense in trouble. Our defense is going to be able to hold its own, I know that. We’ve got to step up big another week.”
Marshfield is playing in Level 4 – the state semifinals – for the seventh time in school history, all since 1997. For the Tigers to advance to their sixth state championship game would be an unlikely dream come true for a team that was left at 3-3 following a crushing loss on homecoming to Merrill when the Bluejays scored in the final minute of a 15-10 win. Something has changed since then, however.
“We knew we had a good bunch, but we were all kind of individuals,” Ashbeck said following the Tigers’ win over Menomonie last Saturday. “We came together. We’re 11-as-1. If one person messes up, the play is done. We all have to work together, play together and the plays will work. It’s obviously paid off and one more and we’re down to Camp Randall.”