This story is sponsored by Dental Clinic of Marshfield
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARATHON – Stratford football coach Cal Tackes called last week’s 50-0 loss to Eau Claire Regis a humbling experience for his team.
After Marathon completed a Hail Mary touchdown pass, and another on a two-point conversion on the final play of the first half to tie the game, the Tigers stood at another crossroad. Stratford, however, responded with a dominant second half and went on to a 28-14 win over the Red Raiders in a Marawood Conference matchup Friday night at Marathon High School.
With the game tied 14-14 at halftime, Stratford scored on both of its third quarter possessions and sacked Marathon quarterback Collin Seubert four times for 49 yards in losses in the fourth quarter to pull away.
“They understand that we can’t give up that kind of play at the end of the half,” Tackes said. “The one thing that I saw from us is we started to communicate in the second half, we started to think out there on the field and understand where things were and how to make plays.”
Travis Urlaub capped a 15-play, 75-yard drive that chewed up 6:04 on the clock with a 4-yard touchdown run that gave Stratford a 20-14 lead.
After another three-and-out by Marathon, the Tigers needed just three plays to go 59 yards for another score as Drew Spaeth hit Eli Temanson with a pass in the left flat and Temanson dodged tacklers for a 39-yard touchdown. A two-point conversion pass from the same duo put the Tigers up 28-14 with 2:09 left in the third quarter.
The Tigers didn’t find the end zone again, but their defense made sure it didn’t matter. Sacks by Joe Redman, Darrin Luepke, Davis Drews and Dondrick Tackes, a fumble recovery by Kellen Bornbach and an interception by Joe Franklin stymied Marathon in the fourth quarter.
Overall, Stratford held Marathon to 3 yards and two first downs in the second half.
“The kids came (to practice Monday) with a good attitude,” Tackes said. “The extra day (the Tigers lost to Regis last Thursday) probably helped us to lick our wounds a little bit. Monday night, when we stepped out for practice, they had a whole new attitude. I think they had a sense of entitlement before the Regis game and after we could be a lot more humble. They understand that to win football games you have to block, you have to tackle and not just walk out on the field and pound your chest and say, ‘I’m good.’”
The two teams exchanged touchdowns on each of their two possessions in the second quarter to make it a 14-14 game at halftime.
Urlaub scored on a 3-yard run to put Stratford up 6-0 before Marathon responded with a 61-yard drive that ended with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Seubert to Jake Dinkel to tie the game. Each kicker missed the extra point attempt.
Temanson capped a 56-yard drive with a 32-yard touchdown run and Franklin caught a two-point conversion to put Stratford up 14-6 with just 44 seconds to go in the half.
However, Marathon didn’t need long to find its way into the end zone, thanks to the arm of Seubert.
The senior quarterback completed passes of 23 and 3 yards to Jake Dinkel before eluding the Stratford pass rush and tossing 43-yard desperation pass down the left sideline to Vince Dinkel as time ticked off the clock. Seubert topped that play by dodging Stratford defenders and retreating back nearly 40 yards before launching a two-point conversion pass to Vince Dinkel to tie the game at halftime.
Stratford (2-1, 2-0 Marawood Conference) hosts Tomahawk (1-2 overall and Marawood) at 7 p.m. next Friday at Tiger Stadium.
Tigers 28, Red Raiders 14
Stratford 0 14 14 0 – 28
Marathon 0 14 0 0 – 14
Second Quarter
S – Travis Urlaub 3 run (Jake Reif kick missed), 8:29.
M – Jake Dinkel 9 pass from Collin Seubert (Dante Kleinschmidt kick missed), 3:56.
S – Eli Temanson 32 run (Joe Franklin pass from Drew Spaeth), 0:44.
M – Vince Dinkel 43 pass from Seubert (V. Dinkel pass from Seubert), 0:00.
Third Quarter
S – Urlaub 4 run (J. Reif kick missed), 4:19.
S – Temanson 39 pass from Spaeth (Temanson pass from Spaeth), 2:09.
Team Statistics
First downs: Stratford 19; Marathon 6.
Rushing (att-yards): Stratford 47-202; Marathon 23-minus 4.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): Stratford 8-16-125-1; Marathon 11-19-158-1.
Penalties (No.-yards): Stratford 10-68; Marathon 4-26.
Fumbles (Total-lost): Stratford 1-0; Marathon 3-1.
Punting (No.-avg.): Stratford 5-28.0; Marathon 6-40.0.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: S, Eli Temanson 16-107, Travis Urlaub 19-85, Jake Reif 5-14, Joe Franklin 2-10, Bryce Reif 1-minus 1, Kellen Bornbach 1-minus 1, Drew Spaeth 2-minus 2. M, Gage Seehafer 9-27, Ethan Seubert 4-5, Jaron Olson 1-0, Collin Seubert 9-minus 36.
Passing: S, Spaeth 8-16-125-1. M, C. Seubert 11-19-158-1.
Receiving: S, Hunter Kauffman 5-69, Temanson 1-39, Franklin 1-10, Nolan Bargender 1-7. M, Jake Dinkel 5-64, Vince Dinkel 2-49, Damian Lang 2-27, Seehafer 2-18.
Interceptions (defense): S, Franklin. M, V. Dinkel.
Fumble recoveries (defense): S, Bornbach.
Punting: S, Bornbach 4-28.0, J. Reif 1-28.0. M, V. Dinkel 6-40.0.
Records: Stratford 2-1, 2-0 Marawood Conference; Marathon 2-1 overall and Marawood Conference.