Tigers held to 71 total yards in home loss

By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

MARSHFIELD — The Marshfield football team knew it had a tough road ahead, having to win its final three games of the season to reach the WIAA playoffs.

First up was Stevens Point, a team that suffered its first loss of the season last week in overtime to Wisconsin Rapids, and the Panthers came out determined not to lose two in a row.

The Panthers’ defensive front seven dominated from the start, and Stevens Point limited Marshfield to just 71 total yards and no points as it beat the Tigers 42-0 on Friday night at Beell Stadium.

Marshfield was held to only 31 yards rushing on 30 carries, only one run going farther than five yards from scrimmage.

The Tigers’ passing game did not fare much better as quarterbacks Ryan Krueger and Jared Johnsrud alternated plays for much of the game and was held to 41 yards.

Marshfield drops to 2-5 overall and 1-5 in the Valley Football Association South Division and will miss the postseason for the third-straight season.

“(Stevens Point) is one of the best teams in the state. What are you going to do? We went out there and tried,” Marshfield coach Denny Goettl said. “It’s hard to say that they are superior to you, but they are. They’re a good team. In the past we beat them, there were battles and rivalries, and the pendulum is swinging. We have to hope that we get our kids rolling back, we get more kids out.

“It doesn’t happen that we have a great team every year. It just doesn’t. We’re probably in the best (conference) in the state of Wisconsin. The top five teams are going to be in the playoffs.”

Joey Hauser hauled in a 4-yard touchdown from Beau Rosenthal on a lob pass to the right corner of the end zone with 2:37 to go in the first quarter, and after a quick three-and-out, Gus Turner-Zick ran 24 yards for a score to put the Panthers (6-1, 5-1 VFA South) up 14-0 after one quarter.

Turner-Zick turned a swing pass from Rosenthal into a 15-yard touchdown with just 1:07 to go in the half, and the Panthers came out of the break hungry, needing just six offensive plays on two separate drives to find pay dirt again.

A 55-yard pass to Turner-Zick led to a 1-yard touchdown run by fullback Brandon Patoka, and Patoka caught a 11-yard TD pass from Rosenthal to push Stevens Point’s lead to 35-0.

Alec Borchardt capped the scoring with a 50-yard fumble return for a score on the final play of the third quarter.

Rosenthal finished 12 of 18 for 223 yards and three touchdowns through the air for Point.

Marshfield hosts Oshkosh North (3-4, 3-3 VFA South) for its homecoming game Oct. 7 at Beell Stadium. The game will begin at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on WDLB-AM 1450 and wdlbwosq.com.

“We have to win homecoming. That’s what we need to do,” Goettl said. “Oshkosh North has the same record as us, and we have to show them that we’re as good as them and hopefully beat them. We’ve got to get some momentum going on our offensive line and do something. We run for five yards, but we can’t break anything. We have no explosive plays, and that’s something we have to work on.”

(Hub City Times Sports Reporter Paul Lecker is also the publisher of MarshfieldAreaSports.com.)

Panthers 42, Tigers 0

Stevens Point 14 7 21 0 – 42

Marshfield 0 0 0 0 – 0

First Quarter

SP – Joey Hauser 4 pass from Beau Rosenthal (Joey Dorgan kick), 2:37.
SP – Gus Turner-Zick 24 run (Dorgan kick), 0:07.

Second Quarter

SP – Turner-Zick 15 pass from Rosenthal (Dorgan kick), 1:09.

Third Quarter

SP – Brandon Patoka 1 run (Dorgan kick), 8:18.
SP – Patoka 11 pass from Rosenthal (Dorgan kick), 2:13.
SP – Alec Borchardt 50 fumble return (Dorgan kick), 0:00.

Team Statistics

First downs: Stevens Point 11; Marshfield 7.

Rushing (att-yards): SP 30-135; M 30-31.

Passing (comp-att-yards-int): SP 12-18-223-0; M 7-18-41-1.

Penalties (no.-yards): SP 9-90; M 3-30.

Fumbles (total-lost): SP 2-1; M 3-2.

Punting (no.-avg.): SP 2-34.0; M 5-31.4.

Individual Statistics

Rushing: SP, Colton Kizewski 8-63, Gus Turner-Zick 14-54, Beau Rosenthal 4-22, Connor Pliska 1-5, Brandon Patoka 1-1, Brett Ehr 1-minus 2, Owen Ahrens 1-minus 8. M, Braden Bohman 20-39, Brant Bohman 3-5, Quinton Alexander 2-3, Jared Johnsrud 3-minus 6, Ryan Krueger 3-minus 11.

Passing: SP, Rosenthal 12-18-223-0. M, Krueger 7-13-41-0, Johnsrud 0-5-0-1.

Receiving: SP, Joey Hauser 4-47, Turner-Zick 3-94, Patoka 3-44, Hunter Shulfer 2-38. M, Michael Damrau 2-31, Andy Goettl 2-13, Brad. Bohman 2-minus 4, Zackary Schmidt 1-2.

Punting: SP, Tyler Frafjord 2-34.0. M, Mason Coffren 5-31.4.

Fumble recoveries (defense): SP, Trent Hamerski, Alec Borchardt. M, Nolan Hertel.

Interceptions (defense): SP, Keon’te Williams.

Records: Stevens Point 6-1, 5-1 Valley Football Association South Division; Marshfield 2-5, 1-5 VFA South.