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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield football team played arguably its most complete game of the season – and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
The Tigers’ offense, defense and special teams all contributed in big ways as Marshfield rolled past La Crosse Logan 41-7 in a WIAA Division 2 Level 3 playoff game Friday night at Beell Stadium.
Riley Gebelein ran for 132 yards and four touchdowns and Marshfield’s defense intercepted three passes and recovered a fumble to push the Tigers in to the state semifinals.
Marshfield (10-1) will play Mequon Homestead (10-1) in a Division 2 state semifinal next weekend. Homestead knocked off unbeaten Green Bay Southwest 17-13 on Saturday. The game will be Saturday, Nov. 10, at Titan Stadium in Oshkosh starting at 1 p.m.
The two teams have a bit of history – Homestead beat Marshfield 23-13 in the 1999 Division 1 state championship game and the Tigers knocked off Homestead 13-6 in a Level 4 matchup in 2002 on their way to a Division 1 state title.
Marshfield took the opening drive of the game and drove 60 yards for a touchdown – an 8-yard run by Gebelein.
Logan earned just one first down and 28 yards in the first quarter and Gebelein added a 2-yard TD run in the final minute to put the Tigers up 14-0, setting the tone for the rest of the game.
“Seems like every week we get that quick touchdown and everything keeps rolling,” said Gebelein, who broke the school’s career record for rushing touchdowns with his four on Friday. He now has 42 career rushing touchdowns, breaking the mark of 41 set by Corey Geldernick from 1999-2001. “Our defense played outstanding stopping them and Daulton (Varsho) had some good returns and gave us a short field.
“Everything went well tonight – from defense to special teams to offense, it all came together. It feels amazing. Level 4, it’s incredible.”
Senior linebacker Ross Zillman said that opening drive was huge for the Tigers.
“When our offense can be as dominant like that and march down the field, they’re not as jacked up, they’re kind of down,” Zillman said. “When our offense can dominate, it makes it much easier for us to get out there to dominate, hit hard and win a game.”
A 15-yard punt return by Daulton Varsho and a personal foul penalty at the end of the play put Marshfield all the way down to the Logan 11 and Gebelein carried it in on the first play of the Tigers’ second drive of the second quarter, making it 20-0.
After an interception and an 18-yard return by Varsho, Marshfield went 37 yards in eight plays on a drive that ended with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Bo Howard to Ryan Trieweiler, making it 27-0 at halftime.
“Any time you get a short field, it makes calling offensive plays pretty easy,” Marshfield coach Denny Goettl said. “We had the one 99-yard drive, and that’s very much of a statement for the way the night went. We really came out and played football tonight and the guys were on fire.”
Marshfield outgained Logan 208-56 in the first half, holding the Rangers to just three first downs.
“We knew what they were going to do, basically, before the game even started,” Zillman said. “It worked out in our favor pretty well. We covered our gaps and I think we really out-hit them this game.”
Gebelein added a 21-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to cap off a 99-yard drive, and Luke Mahoney scored from 1-yard out in the fourth to finish off the scoring for the Tigers.
“Being at home at our friendly confides here with our own fans, that’s a big deal for us,” Goettl said. “Scoring early on anybody is a big one and you have a little bit of a monkey off your back, and it played into what we wanted to do. We wanted to control the football and again, we’re trying to get our running game a little bit better. That 99-yard drive kind of put a staple on the thing.”
Tigers 41, Rangers 7
La Crosse Logan 0 0 7 0 – 7
Marshfield 14 13 7 7 – 41
First Quarter
M – Riley Gebelein 8 run (Brad Krueger kick), 9:11.
M – Gebelein 2 run (Krueger kick), 0:55.
Second Quarter
M – Gebelein 11 run (kick missed), 7:31.
M – Ryan Trierweiler 8 pass from Bo Howard (Krueger kick), 2:50.
Third Quarter
M – Gebelein 21 run (Krueger kick), 3:18.
L – Jonah Waite 22 pass from Mitch Schreiner (Aric Elmore kick), 0:42.
Fourth Quarter
M – Luke Mahoney 1 run (Krueger kick), 9:14.
Team Statistics
First downs: Logan 12; Marshfield 15.
Rushing (att-yards): Logan 36-125; Marshfield 44-218.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): Logan 8-22-168-3; Marshfield 8-17-146-1.
Penalties (No.-yards): Logan 8-55; Marshfield 7-46.
Fumbles (total-lost): Logan 3-2; Marshfield 5-1.
Punting (No.-avg.): Logan 4-32.0; Marshfield 3-27.0.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: L, David Hellerud 17-75, Raekwon Tillman 4-18, No. 49 (name not listed) 5-10, Keenan Rouse 3-9, Mitch Schreiner 3-8, Levi Kotek 1-4, Jonah Waite 3-1. M, Riley Gebelein 17-132, Keiron Howlett 15-86, Ryan Trierweiler 1-12, Luke Mahoney 2-4, Jaylan Moore 1-4, Caleb Cline 2-3, Caleb Alexander 1-1, Bo Howard 5-minus 24.
Passing: L, Schreiner 8-22-161-3. M, Howard 8-16-142-1, Colton Zahradka 1-1-4-0.
Receiving: L, Waite 4-121, Johnny Kind 1-14, Tanner Formanek 1-13, Evan Kyte 1-11, Hellerud 1-2. M, Trierweiler 4-75, Tanner Dennis-Brown 2-38, Cline 1-15, Gebelein 1-14, Luke Wirtz 1-4.
Fumble recoveries: M, Eric Seehafer, Alex Drexler. L, Waite.
Interceptions: M, Daulton Varsho, Tanner Happe, Mack Scheppler.
Records: Logan 6-5; Marshfield 10-1.