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MARSHFIELD – In the end, the Marshfield football team wasn’t able to overcome 3 1/2 quarters of sloppy play.
Trailing 22-0, the Tigers scored twice in the final 6 minutes but couldn’t make it all the way back and lost their opener to Menomonie 22-14 in a nonconference game Friday night at Beell Stadium.
Marshfield committed five turnovers and had a touchdown called back due to a holding penalty before finally putting it together on its final two drives.
Elliot Ashbeck scored on a 10-yard run and after a defensive stop, Chris Stemen tossed a 49-yard touchdown pass to Ian Padron to bring the Tigers to within a 22-14 score with 2:54 left.
Marshfield’s defense, which was stout in the second half, needed to make one more stop but couldn’t get it done. Menomonie picked up a pair of first downs and were able to run out the clock.
“The defense kept us in the game. That’s our strong suit,” said Marshfield coach Denny Goettl, who was serving his first game as the Tigers’ head coach. “We know they’re going to help us out and they really did a nice job keeping us close. We’ve just got to come back in practice and work harder this week.”
Menomonie’s offensive line controlled the Tigers in the first half as the Indians piled up 189 yards rushing and scored twice. The Indians finished with 368 yards on the ground.
Marshfield’s defense held twice – recovering a fumble and stuffing the Indians on a fourth-down play at the 6-yard line, but after an interception, Menomonie needed just three plays to drive 26 yards for a score.
Joey Neeb finished off the short drive with a 7-yard scoring run and Menomonie took a 7-0 lead.
The Indians kept it up on their next drive, going 67 yards on eight straight rushing plays. Neeb ran 23 yards to the 12 and Aaron White scored on the next play.
Marshfield punted four times and committed two turnovers on its six offensive drives in the first half, gaining only 1 yard rushing on 13 carries and just 43 passing yards on 10 attempts.
“The big problem in the first half was we weren’t lining up right,” said Marshfield linebacker Ross Hasserodt, who recovered a fumble on the first possession of the second half. “The offense started moving the ball better in the second half and that gave us a break. We were too tired in the first half. They just ran over us.
“Once our offense started moving the ball a little bit, we got back into it and gave us a little spark to try to come back.”
The Tigers’ defense responded to the challenge in the second half, recovering two fumbles in the third quarter to thwart Menomonie drives.
However, an interception by Marshfield following a tipped pass by an open receiver and a long return gave the Indians the ball at the 47. Nine running plays later, Neico Stokke scored from the 3 and the Indians added a two-point conversion to take a 22-0 lead with 58 seconds to go in the third quarter.
“Early jitters, I think, can maybe account for a little of that, but the fact that we were dropping passes and missing blocks – we weren’t as aggressive as they were,” Goettl said. “We’ve got to come with more intensity.”
Todd Vantassel scored a touchdown on Marshfield’s first drive of the fourth quarter, but it was called back due to a holding penalty. Two plays later, Vantassel fumbled and Menomonie took over at its own 5.
Marshfield finally got the spark it had been waiting for when Brad Dolezal returned a punt 39 yards to the 11 and Ashbeck scored two plays later to get the Tigers on the board.
Marshfield again needed just two plays to score on its next possession when Padron hauled in a jump ball at about the 15-yard line and finished off the 49-yard touchdown catch from Stemen to give the Tigers hope.
“The second half was so much better than the first half,” Hasserodt said. “I think we had the jitters, with so many new guys on the team. We got the jitters out and I think it’s all up hill from here.”
Marshfield plays another nonconference game next Friday, Sept. 3, at Antigo, before opening Wisconsin Valley Conference play Sept. 10 at defending champion Stevens Point.
Indians 22, Tigers 14
Menomonie 7 7 8 0 – 22
Marshfield 0 0 0 14 – 14
First quarter
MEN – Joey Neeb 7 run (Nick Didier kick), :13.
Second quarter
MEN – Aaron White 12 run (Didier kick), 7:46.
Third quarter
MEN – Neico Stokke 3 run (Jimmy Benrud pass from Tyler Naatz), :58.
Fourth quarter
MAR – Elliot Ashbeck 9 run (Gus Utech kick), 5:48.
MAR – Ian Padron 49 pass from Chris Stemen (Utech kick), 2:54.
TEAM STATISTICS
First downs: Menomonie 19; Marshfield 9.
Rushing: Menomonie 70-368; Marshfield 22-22.
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): Menomonie 2-8-29-0; Marshfield 12-28-173-3.
Fumbles (total-lost): Menomonie 5-3; Marshfield 3-2.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Menomonie: Joey Neeb 28-176; Aaron White 18-76; Neico Stokke 12-68; Drew Otto 7-46; Isaac Hoagland 3-6, James Nelson 1-minus 2, Tyler Naatz 1-minus 2.
Marshfield: Todd Vantassel 5-52, Josh Shupe 8-5, Elliot Ashbeck 5-4, Brad Dolezal 2-minus 1, Chris Stemen 1-minus 7, Sully Luepke 1-minus 31.
Passing
Menomonie: Stokke 2-5-29-0, Nelson 0-3-0-0.
Marshfield: Stemen 6-15-104-1, Ashbeck 6-13-69-2.
Receiving
Menomonie: Jimmy Benrud 1-15, Colin Jacott 1-14.
Marshfield: Jake Lisiecki 5-51, Ian Padron 3-74, Tyler Rollins 2-20, Austin Littmann 1-17, Vantassel 1-11.
Fumble recoveries
Menomonie: Otto, Richard Bryant.
Marshfield: Dan Kniech, Ross Hasserodt, Josh Krier.
Interceptions
Menomonie: Eric Besse, Tyler Naatz, John Wiatr.
Punting
Menomonie: Lex Pelke 3-37.3 avg.
Marshfield: Luepke 5-38.8 avg.
Records: Menomonie 1-0; Marshfield 0-1.