This story is sponsored by Studio 211 Hair Salon
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
APPLETON –The Marshfield football team made an art of winning close games at the end of the season.
The Tigers won a pair of one-point games, another by just a touchdown and came back from nine points down at halftime to win a playoff game at Hortonville two weeks ago.
On Saturday, however, Marshfield couldn’t finish the deal.
After coming back from a 14-0 halftime deficit to tie Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 Level 4 state semifinal playoff game against Cedarburg, Marshfield couldn’t stop the powerful rushing attack of the Bulldogs in the final 11 minutes and dropped a 35-21 decision at Appleton North High School.
Cedarburg (12-1) moves on to the Division 2 state championship game at 1 p.m. Friday against defending state champion Waunakee at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison. Marshfield ends its improbable playoff run and finishes with an 8-4 record.
Marshfield sat at 3-3 with two games left in the regular season, leaving a playoff berth in doubt. The Tigers responded by beating Wausau East and Wisconsin Rapids to finish second in the Wisconsin Valley Conference and secure the program’s 15th-straight WIAA playoff appearance.
Three victories in the postseason gave Marshfield a chance to move on to the state finals for the sixth time in the last 14 seasons, something that seemed far-fetched a little more than a month ago.
“It feels weird to lose because we haven’t done it for so long,” Marshfield coach Denny Goettl said. “Coming up big in this stretch was tremendous. The kids gelled as a team. We had no super, superstars. Everybody did their thing and we really came together.”
Marshfield stuffed a Cedarburg drive on the 7 in the opening quarter but couldn’t move the ball, punting on its first three possessions.
The field-position game changed early in the second quarter. Marshfield forced a punt after a three-and-out, but muffed the punt and Cedarburg recovered at the Tigers’ 28. Six plays later, Logan Lauters scored on a 5-yard run to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead.
Marshfield went three-and-out for the third time in the first half and the Bulldogs capitalized again. A 28-yard pass from Ryan Ramuta to Matt Johnson was the key play in a nine-play, 63-yard drive that ended with a Lauters’ 1-yard touchdown run and Cedarburg took a 14-0 lead into halftime.
The first three possessions of the second half ended in fumbles. Marshfield senior defensive tackle Dylan Wrege recovered two Cedarburg fumbles, and the second one set up a scoring drive for the Tigers.
Quarterback Elliot Ashbeck hit Ian Padron for a 23-yard gain on 3rd down-and-10 and after an incomplete pass and a holding penalty, Todd Vantassel ran up the middle for an 18-yard touchdown to put Marshfield on the scoreboard.
Cedarburg’s ensuing drive – 16 plays for 68 yards – ended with a missed 27-yard field goal attempt.
The Tigers used the momentum of the defensive stop and drove 80 yards in 10 plays for the tying score. Passes of 25 and 18 yards from Ashbeck to Cody Tarnowski and seven-yard strike to Tyler Rollins set up a 3-yard touchdown run by Vantassel that tied the game at 14-14 12 seconds into the fourth quarter.
With the game on the line, Cedarburg turned to its dominating running game. The Bulldogs ran the ball 17 straight times and the result was a pair of touchdown drives to regain control of the game.
Lauters, who came into the game with more than 2,300 yards rushing this season, had a 40-yard run to set up the first touchdown – a 14-yard run for his third score of the game – and he had six carries for 38 yards on the ensuing drive following a Marshfield punt. Kane Kaiman carried it the final yard for a touchdown to put the Bulldogs up 28-14 with 2:04 left.
Lauters finished with 173 yards on 35 carries, including 92 yards on 10 carries in the fourth quarter, and Cedarbug ran 61 times for 271 yards.
Kaiman returned an interception 48 yards for a touchdown less than a minute later to ice it.
“The defense, we left them out on the field the whole game, which is what we told ourselves we couldn’t do,” Goettl said. “We struggled a little bit offensively, overthrew some balls right away. We had guys open downfield, but wow, give their defensive backs credit. They were on our backs and knocking balls down. They brought pressure and we handled it the best we could.”
Marshfield scored with 27 seconds left. A 21-yard run by Brad Dolezal and a 52-yard scamper by Vantassel, who had 120 yards on 12 carries, set up a 5-yard TD run by Dolezal to finish the scoring.
Goettl pointed out the Tigers’ willingness to fight through tough times and persevere with an impressive postseason run.
“It’s Marshfield football. We’re expecting to win and we do everything we can to make that happen,” Goettl said. “The people on our staff are tremendous. The effort that they put in, as far as game-planning, preparation, in the weight room, running 7-on-7s, just the time we put in is tremendous. The amount of time you put in is astronomical. It’s the love of the game and of Marshfield football. We do it for our community and for our school. We play with pride with the black shirt on our back.”
Bulldogs 35, Tigers 21
Cedarburg 0 14 0 21 – 35
Marshfield 0 0 7 14 – 21
Second quarter
C – Logan Lauters 5 run (Jason Seeke kick), 7:35.
C – Lauters 1 run (Seeke kick), 3:18.
Third quarter
M – Todd Vantassel 18 run (Gus Utech kick), 8:42
Fourth quarter
M – Vantassel 3 run (Utech kick), 11:48.
C – Lauters 14 run (Seeke kick), 9:08.
C – Kane Kaiman 1 run (Seeke kick), 2:04.
C – Kaiman 48 interception return (Seeke kick), 1:18.
M – Brad Dolezal 5 run (Utech kick), 0:27.
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs: Cedarburg 15, Marshfield 13.
Rushing (att-yards): Cedarburg 61-271, Marshfield 21-114.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): Cedarburg 4-9-63-1, Marshfield 13-38-143-1.
Penalties: Cedarburg 5-43, Marshfield 4-18.
Fumbles (total-lost): Cedarburg 5-2, Marshfield 3-3.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: C, Logan Lauters 35-173, Kane Kaiman 11-50, Ryan Ramuta 8-24, Hudson Walton 5-20, Nick Boehnlein 1-5, Joey Rossiter 1-minus 1. M, Todd Vantassel 12-120, Brad Dolezal 7-5, Elliot Ashbeck 2-minus 11.
Passing: C, Ramuta 4-9-63-1. M, Ashbeck 13-38-143-1.
Receiving: C, Matt Johnson 3-53, Boehnlein 1-10. M, Cody Tarnowski 3-67, Ian Padron 3-41, Tyler Rollins 3-25, Dolezal 2-6, Jake Lisiecki 2-11.
Fumble recoveries (defense): C, Luke Baumgartner 2, Nick Schlaefer. M, Dylan Wrege 2.
Interceptions: C, Kaiman. M, Daniel Drach.
Punting: C, Jason Seeke 2-46.0 avg. M, Gus Utech 5-39.8 avg.
Records: Cedarburg 12-1, Marshfield 8-4.