Marshall nips Bluejays, 8-7

It was a typical football game between perennial powerhouses. In the end, predictably, only one point separated the two.

In a driving rain, the Waseca Bluejays were edged in their home opener 8-7 by Class 4A Marshall Friday, Sept. 9. The winning score came in the fourth quarter, and the Tigers converted a pass to convert a daring two-point conversion.

“We need to study better,” Waseca coach Brad Wendland told his players. “We need to be better disciplined, play smarter and develop more maturity.”

The night started well for the Jays. Their young defense, which boasts eight new starters from a year ago, forced an opening-drive fumble, ending a 10-play drive. The turnover, caused by Max Neaves, set up the Bluejays on their own 33-yard line.

Oliver O’Brien and the Jays went to work quickly, with O’Brien scrambling for 34 yards up the left sideline on the first play. Three plays later, Christian Rodriquez zig-zagged to his left through an open hole from 24 yards out. Neaves added the PAT kick midway through the first quarter.

The Tigers then marched 12 plays before stalling on a fourth-and-short at the Jays’ 26-yard line.

In Waseca’s second drive, O'Brien again had a fantastic scramble of 32 yards, first going left, then cutting back across the middle, ending on the right sideline. With rain starting, however, two plays later O'Brien fumbled the handoff and Marshall recovered deep in its own territory.

The teams traded possessions two more times in the first half. Marshall was forced to punt twice. The Jays had one more long drive of 10 plays, ending on a fourth-down sack deep in Marshall territory with two minutes remaining.

It was 7-0 at halftime.

Things could not have started worse for the Jays in the second half as they fumbled the opening kickoff. Marshall recovered, but did not score as Damerius Russell intercepted Tyler Maeyaert’s third-down pass. Russell’s return put it at the Waseca 40. The Jays proceeded to again march down the field, but again came up short. This time under downpouring rain, a nine-play drive ended on a fumble from with just under six minutes to play in the third quarter. 

The two teams traded punts on their next possessions, which both included multiple dropped passes and lost footing as both teams struggled with the sloppy conditions. 

With a 1:41 remaining in the third quarter, the Tigers finally capitalized. With good field position at their own 48-yard line following a 27-yard punt, hampered by the rain, Martshall started with an 11-yard run to the right on a fake reverse. Runners looked like they were going in slow motion as they tried to keep their footing. The next play was fumbled, but recovered by Marshall. But two of their next three plays, a 20-yard run and a 15-yard run, set up the Tigers at the 4-yard line. A quick run by Mason Eickhoff produced Marshall’s lone touchdown of the night. Still in the downpouring rain, the Knights made a daring play call. On a play action pass, Maeyaert dropped back about 10 yards before lobbing a pass over three pursuing defenders to wide-open fullback Gavin Schaefer.

The teams traded possessions over the final 10 minutes of the game with the Jays getting three possessions and the Tigers two. The Bluejays’ only real threat was ended on a great sideline interception at Marshall’s 43-yard line with three minutes remaining.

Wendland, whose team evened its record at 1-1, counseled the Bluejays to look in the mirror after the loss.

“So maybe we didn’t deserve this one,” he told his players. “How you guys handle this right now is going to determine where this season goes. If you point fingers at this and that, then that’ll be that. We can be better at the end of the year. Everyone needs to look at themselves. Now you know how you don’t win a football game. You can learn a lot from failure. We’re not mad at you, but we expect better from you. We need to give Marshall credit. They were physical.”

“This will humble us,” O’Brien told teammates.

Wendland said some changes are in order for this Friday when the Bluejays travel to Tri-City United

“We’re probably going to make a number of changes after tonight,” said Wendland. “You learn more from losing than you do winning. We talked about how the most physical team would win, and I’m not sure that was us tonight.”

Wendland said the players didn’t have a good week of practice and repeatedly emphasized the need for discipline.

‘I believe in these kids,” he said. “I know they’ll react better.”

 

WAS                               7    0    0    0 — 7

M                                    0    0    0    8 — 8

 

First Quarter

W – Rodriguez 24 run (Neaves kick)

Second Quarter

No scoring

Third Quarter

No scoring

Fourth Quarter

M - Eickoff 4 run (Schaefer pass from Maeyaert)

 

 

                                               M            WAS

First downs                            17               8

Rushing                              37-110      30-189

Passing                                7-15            3-8

Passing Yds.                           78             25

Penalties                               4-40          5-40

 

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - WAS: O’Brien 13-112; Rodriguez 11-53; Neaves 3-18; Mixteco 2-7; Damarius Russell 1 —1; M: Eickhoff 11-37; Brownlee 12-35; Maeyaert 9-25; Nwakama 4-8; Wing 1-5

Passing - WAS: O’Brien 3-8, 25; M: Maeyaert 7-15, 78

Receiving - WAS: Damarius Russell 1-19; Thompson 1-8; Rodriguez 1—2; M: Nwakama 1-36; Wing 1-11; Condezo 2-10; Brownlee 1-9; Abdi 1-8; Wallen 1-4

Defense: WAS: N.Engel-Mueller 6 tackles, 3 assists; Garza 5 tackles, 1 assist, 2 sacks; O’Brien 5 tackles; Neaves 5 tackles, 1 assist, 1 sack; Ellis 4 tackles, 3 assists; Brown 1 tackle, 4 assists; Thompson 2 tackles, 1 assist; Damarius Russell 2 tackles, 1 interception; Deron Russell 2 tackles; Ohnstad 1 tackle, 1 assist; Robran 1 tackle, 1 assist, 1 sack; S.Engel-Mueller 1 assist, 1 fumble recovery