This story is sponsored by: The University of Wisconsin-Marshfield/Wood County
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
STEVENS POINT – The Marshfield football team knew it had to take care of business to keep its chances for a second-straight Valley Football Association South Division title alive.
The Tigers did just that. Keiron Howlett ran for 134 yards and two long touchdowns and Matt Rickman returned an interception for a score to lead Marshfield to a 31-10 win over Stevens Point Area Senior High on Friday night at Goerke Field.
Marshfield stays in the VFA South championship chase, improving to 5-1 (6-2 overall). The Tigers remain in a tie for second place in the conference with Menasha, one game behind 6-0 Oshkosh North. North shutout rival Oshkosh West 28-0 on Friday.
The victory sets up a showdown at Titan Stadium in Oshkosh next Friday in the final regular-season game of the season when Marshfield plays Oshkosh North at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WDLB-AM 1450 and wdlbwosq.com.
“We at least have a chance next week,” Marshfield coach Denny Goettl said. “Our defense, all year, they’ve kept us in the game. Defense wins championships and offense is just for everyone to come and watch.”
Howlett busted a 56-yard touchdown run on Marshfield’s fourth offensive play to give the Tigers the quick lead.
SPASH tied the game on a 38-yard touchdown run by Ethan Clark on the third play of the second quarter, but Marshfield struck back when Howlett scored a 46-yard touchdown 4 minutes later.
Luke Zuiker hooked up with Caleb Alexander on a 36-yard pass and Alexander was able to get out of bounds with 1 second remaining in the half. Brad Krueger then drilled a 36-yard field goal on the final play of the half, putting the Tigers up 17-7.
Rickman’s 40-yard interception return on SPASH’s third play of the second half effectively put the game away for Marshfield.
Stevens Point had the ball inside the Marshfield 30 four times in the second half, but managed only a field goal.
“We stuck to our keys, fought off blocks and made tackles when we needed to,” Marshfield senior safety Daulton Varsho said. “They came out in a double-tight, that messed us up right away, but we went into halftime and we figured out what we needed to do.”
Alexander finished off the scoring for Marshfield with a 36-yard touchdown run with 2:57 remaining in the game.
“I am going to go out on a limb and say that was the best defensive line we’ve faced up to this point,” Goettl said. “That’s a bunch of big boys over there.
“We’ve been building to a pinnacle. We’ve had our bad games, we’ve had our penalties and things happening. Maybe tonight we got over the hump and didn’t have all the penalties. But we had another thing show up, and that was our goal-line offense and we have to get that taken care of. We’ve got to be able to pound it in and do the things we do.”
Tigers 31, Panthers 10
Marshfield 7 10 7 7 – 31
Stevens Point 0 7 0 3 – 10
First Quarter
M – Keiron Howlett 56 run (Brad Krueger kick), 10:22.
Second Quarter
SP – Ethan Clark 38 run (Marc Renfert kick), 11:04.
M – Howlett 46 run (Andy Riesterer kick), 6:54.
M – Krueger 36 field goal, 0:00.
Third Quarter
M – Matt Rickman 40 interception return (Krueger kick), 10:28.
Fourth Quarter
SP – Mark Ponczoch 32 field goal, 3:29.
M – Caleb Alexander 36 run (Krueger kick), 2:59.
Team Statistics
First downs: Marshfield 7; Stevens Point 13.
Rushing (att-yards): Marshfield 26-231; Stevens Point 44-266.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): Marshfield 6-14-81-2; Stevens Point 11-25-60-2.
Fumbles (total-lost): Marshfield 2-1; Stevens Point 1-0.
Penalties (No.-yards): Marshfield 4-20; Stevens Point 8-60.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: M, Keiron Howlett 13-145, Caleb Alexander 8-53, Jeffrey Allison 1-30, Luke Zuiker 2-4, Colton Zahradka 2-minus 1. SP, Ethan Clark 12-85, Mark Sebree 18-84, Joey Flowerette 4-44, Mitch Mallek 4-19, Brandon Wisinski 1-16, Austin Pearcy 2-12, Evan Sanders 1-6, Jared Dudas 1-0, Victor Kizewski 1-0.
Passing: M, Zahradka 4-9-42-2, Zuiker 2-5-39-0. SP, Mallek 10-24-49-2, Matthew McHugh 1-1-11-0.
Receiving: M, Alexanders 2-54, Allison 2-27, Jace Krasselt 2-20. SP, Kirien Sprecher 3-35, Flowerette 2-2, Sebree 2-1, Conner Ford 1-11, Kizewski 1-6, Sean VanHelden 1-5, Clark 1-0.
Fumble recoveries (defense): SP, Noel Winch.
Interceptions (defense): M, Matt Rickman, Daulton Varsho. SP, Bennett Noble, Jon Barnes.
Punting (No.-avg.): M, Craig Zalizniak 4-34.0. SP, Ford 3-29.0, Mallek 2-36.0.
Records: Marshfield 6-2, 5-1 Valley Football Association South; Stevens Point 4-4, 2-4 VFA South.