This story is sponsored by: Jake’s Quality Repair
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The season started on a good note for the Marshfield football team as the offense took the opening kickoff and drove 67 yards for a touchdown.
That was the highlight, however, for the Tigers as they made too many mistakes to overcome and dropped its 2022 season opener to Hudson 24-7 on Thursday night at Heiting Community Stadium at Marshfield High School.
Marshfield committed 10 offensive penalties and had three turnovers, stalling a number of promising drives. One of the turnovers, a fumble in the second quarter, proved extra costly as it came one play after a Hudson offensive touchdown, and Chase Raven took it back 26 yards for another score to give Hudson a 10-point lead.
“It happened in the scrimmage and we were jumping offsides in practice, holding, and we’ve got to change those things,” Marshfield coach Denny Goettl. “We can’t have penalties, that’s what kills you. We moved the ball down the field on the first drive with a clean slate, after that we’re offsides, we’re holding, turnovers happen and the snowball effect kicks in.
“You have to look for some guys to make some big plays. They were doubling (receiver) Luke LeMoine, (quarterback) Trevor (Foemmel) gets in trouble with some hard blitzes, and it’s tough to play football with those guys in your face. We have to figure out some protection schemes.”
Jeff Marsh ran four times for 37 yards on the opening drive for the Tigers and Eli Colby punched it in the end zone from the 14 to give Marshfield a quick 7-0 lead.
The Tigers’ defense held strong on the first two drives before Hudson got rolling. The Raiders went 67 yards in seven plays bridging the end of the first and start of the second quarters. The drive ended at the 10 where Jack Strong kicked a 27-yard field goal to make it 7-3.
Following a three-and-out by Marshfield, Hudson went 79 yards in eight plays. Following two fourth-down conversions that were called back by penalty, Raiders quarterback Jake Busson connected with Tyler Lessard for a 37-yard pass on fourth-and-15 to get to the 2. Owen Mackinnon-Hutera scored on the next play to give Hudson the lead.
On Marshfield’s first offensive play following the kickoff, the Tigers fumbled and the scoop and score from Raven quickly made it 17-7 with 4:45 to go before halftime.
Marshfield were near or crossed midfield on all five of its remaining possessions, but penalties, sacks or turnovers thwarted its hopes.
Hudson’s Justin Robey added a 20-yard touchdown run with just more than two minutes to go in the game to finish off the scoring.
“We’re just not good enough to overcome some of those mistakes, but we’ll get better,” Goettl said.
The Tigers finished with 215 total yards, while giving up 294.
Marshfield will travel to Slinger for another nonconference game next Friday, Aug. 26. The game will be live-streamed at zaleskisports.com.
Raiders 24, Tigers 7
Hudson 0 17 0 7 – 24
Marshfield 7 0 0 0 – 7
First Quarter
M – Eli Colby 14 run (Braxton Kurth kick), 8:43.
Second Quarter
H – Jack Strong 27 field goal, 10:04.
H – Owen Mackinnon-Hutera 2 run (Strong kick), 4:58.
H – Chase Raven 26 fumble return (Strong kick), 4:45.
Fourth Quarter
H – Justin Robey 20 run (Strong kick), 2:04.
Team Statistics
First downs: Hudson 10; Marshfield 12.
Rushing (att-yards): H 40-158; M 34-108.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): H 4-6-136-1; M 9-18-107-1.
Total yards: H 294; M 215.
Fumbles (total-lost): H 1-1; M 2-2.
Penalties (no.-yards): H 7-78; M 10-97.
Punting (no.-avg.): H 3-34.7; M, 5-44.0.
Individual Statistics
Rushing: H, Jake Busson 19-82, Ross Yaeger 2-35, Justin Robey 12-35, Owen Mackinnon-Hutera 4-10, Jack Kantack 3-minus 4. M, Jeff Marsh 18-74, Eli Colby 3-21, Trevor Foemmel 11-13, Braden Anderson 1-1, Mason Seidl 1-minus 1.
Passing: H, Busson 4-6-136-0. M, Foemmel 9-18-107-1.
Receiving: H, Tyler Lessard 2-74, Riley Anderson 2-62. M, Sam Meverden 3-34, Luke LeMoine 2-28, Brooks Hinson 2-10, Anderson 1-23, Evan Jakobi 1-11.
Fumble recoveries (defense): H, Chase Raven, Ethan Hinz. M, Logan Metcalfe.
Interceptions (defense): H, Lessard. M, Bennett Lang.
Punting: H, Gannon Siwicki 3-34.7. M, Noah Peterson 5-44.0.
Records: Hudson 1-0; Marshfield 0-1.