This story is sponsored by Dental Clinic of Marshfield
Click here to listen to interviews with Marshfield’s Trevor Peterson and Elliot Ashbeck
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – It took a while for Marshfield to overcome the disappointment of losing to Wisconsin Rapids, but once it did Menasha took the brunt of it.
Senior defensive end Trevor Peterson recovered two fumbles and scored on each and Elliot Ashbeck threw for 213 yards and two touchdowns to Cody Tarnowski as the Tigers rolled to a 49-0 victory over Menasha in a Valley Football Association South Division football game Friday night at Beell Stadium.
Marshfield improves to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in the VFA South, while Menasha falls to 4-4 and 3-3 in the conference. The Tigers close their regular season next Friday at Stevens Point.
The Tigers blew a 19-0 lead in the second half last Friday to Wisconsin Rapids in what amounted to a VFA South championship game, losing 22-19.
The after effects of that loss were evident early with a pair of special teams mistakes. However, the Tigers’ defense bailed out the team with a pair of takeways.
Marshfield fielded the opening kickoff and stepped out of bounds at its own 6. Then Menasha’s Austin Peters blocked a punt out of bounds at the 6.
However, the Tigers’ defense stopped the drive when Matt Scheel intercepted a pass in the end zone.
Austin Littmann hauled in a short pass and ran for an 89-yard gain on Marshfield’s second play following the interception, but the Bluejays held and got the ball back at the 2 after two incomplete passes.
On Menasha’s second play, quarterback Jake Root fumbled and Peterson recovered the ball in the end zone to get the Tigers on the scoreboard, and the rout was on.
Riley Gebelein added an 8-yard touchdown run on Marshfield’s longest drive of the night – six plays, 81 yards – just before the end of the first quarter.
Menasha drove down to the Tigers’ 17 on its next possession, but again Peterson came up big for the defense.
The 6-foot-4, 225-pound defensive end recovered a fumble at the 25 at bolted 75 yards for the touchdown, his fourth of the season on defense.
“They didn’t block me off the edge and the ball was on the ground and I picked it up and took off,” Peterson said of the second score. “I was pretty excited there. I was pretty surprised when the ball was laying there and no one caught me. I was dogging it there the last 30 yards. I was tired but we got there. It was awesome.”
Marshfield scored on its final three offensive possessions of the second quarter as well, on short drives of three, two and three plays.
Jordan Litwatis had a 37-yard reception to set up a 16-yard touchdown pass from Ashbeck to Cody Tarnowski, Gebelein ran 33 yards for a score and after a 7-yard punt by the Bluejays, Ashbeck hit Tarnowski for a 15-yard touchdown to make it 42-0 at halftime.
“We learned a lot from it (the loss to Rapids),” Marshfield coach Denny Goettl said. “To come out here and start out the game with a kick return that goes out of bounds at the (6), that just doesn’t make me happy. But hey, their high school kids and we know that. We still have a lot of improvement to do. If we can keep the running game going like we had it going tonight, that will make everything better.”
Tarnowski, who finished with 106 total yards on just four touches, had a 65-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter and backup quarterback Bo Howard scored on an 18-yard run to complete the scoring.
“We were all a little tense after last week blowing that lead. It was good to get back in that rhythm,” Ashbeck said. “We got our confidence back. We were a little flat-footed after last week, it was like that first-game feeling again. To come out and set the tone like we did after that rough start, we needed that. It’s a good stepping stone heading into the playoffs here pretty quick.”
Marshfield ran just 36 plays but outgained Menasha 414-202 and pitched its second shutout of the season.
“Trevor scored two touchdowns and we’ll take big plays from the defense all the time,” Goettl said.
Tigers 49, Bluejays 0
Menasha 0 0 0 0 – 0
Marshfield 14 28 0 7 – 49
FIRST QUARTER
MAR – Trevor Peterson recovered fumble in end zone (Gus Utech kick), 5:53.
MAR – Riley Gebelein 23 run (Utech kick), 0:49.
SECOND QUARTER
MAR – Peterson 75 fumble return (Utech kick), 9:30.
MAR – Cody Tarnowski 35 pass from Elliot Ashbeck (Utech kick), 4:26.
MAR – Gebelein 33 run (Utech kick), 1:47.
MAR – Tarnowski 15 pass from Ashbeck (Utech kick), 0:29.
FOURTH QUARTER
MAR – Bo Howard 18 run (Utech kick), 11:06.
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs: Menasha 9; Marshfield 5.
Rushing (att-yards): Menasha 34-143; Marshfield 22-197.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): Menasha 6-14-59-2; Marshfield 7-14-217-0.
Fumbles (total-lost): Menasha 4-3; Marshfield 0-0.
Penalties (total-yards): Menasha 5-33; Marshfield 5-46.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: MEN, Caleb Belknap 19-107, Matt Gaffney 5-42, Troy Thompson 1-minus 1, Jake Root 9-minus 5. MAR, Riley Gebelein 10-81, Cody Tarnowski 2-65, Bo Howard 3-30, Jack Marquardt 4-21, Shawn Weber 2-6, Ryan Trierweiler 1-minus 6.
Passing: MEN, Root 5-13-47-2, Gaffney 1-1-12-0. MAR, Elliot Ashbeck 6-12-213-0, Howard 1-2-4-0.
Receiving: MEN, Jake Dementer 2-10, Tyler Thompson 1-37, Nick Siegel 1-12, Boomer Drakas 1-7, Belknap 1-minus 7. MAR, Austin Littmann 4-139, Tarnowski 2-41, Jordan Litwatis 1-37.
Interceptions: MAR, Matt Scheel, Tanner Happe.
Fumble recoveries: MAR, Trevor Peterson 2, Alex Zirbel.
Records: Menasha 4-4, 3-3 Valley Football Association South; Marshfield 7-1, 5-1 VFA South.