After dropping a one-point decision to Litchfield Sept. 25, the Cardinals had a chance to make up for the loss with a game against a Marshall squad that had won one game entering Friday’s clash at Cardinal Field.
Instead of improving its position in the race for a SWC title, Luverne came back to the pack. Marshall scored 14 first-half points and never trailed in a game the Tigers eventually won by a 27-19 decision.
The loss left Luverne with a 2-1 conference mark, looking up at league unbeaten Jackson County Central in the standings. The setback has set the stage for what LHS coach Joel Swanson considers a must-win situation when the Cards travel to Redwood Falls tomorrow to meet a Redwood Valley team that takes a 1-3 conference mark into the game.
"We’re still in the conference race, but this will be a really big game for us. It’s gut-check time, and we’ll find out what we’ve got in our stomachs. What happens in this game probably will determine how the rest of our season will go," Swanson said.
The Cardinals will need to avoid the type of first half they experienced against Marshall in order to experience success in Redwood Falls.
Tiger senior Ben Wiener came up with a pair of big plays that gave Marshall a 14-0 halftime advantage.
A lost fumble ended Marshall’s opening possession of the game, but it needed only two plays to take the lead with its second possession. After a six-yard gain on first down, Wiener escaped for a 58-yard touchdown run at the 5:09 mark of the opening quarter. A missed extra-point attempt kept the score at 6-0.
Wiener’s second big play came when the Tigers were on defense in the second quarter.
Luverne had moved the ball inside Marshall’s 30-yard line when Cardinal quarterback James Fisher dropped back to pass. After being hit by a Tiger defender, the ball was jarred out of Fisher’s hands.
Wiener nabbed the ball out of the air and raced 74 yards for a touchdown with 5:30 remaining in the first half. A successful conversion pass made the difference 14-0.
Falling behind early in games has become a common trait for the Cardinals.
"We have to come out ready to play in the first quarter," Swanson said. "We’ve had bad starts in the first quarter all season, and we’ve got to turn that around. Maybe it’s my fault for not getting the kids ready to play, but I don’t know. For some reason we’re getting handled in the first quarter of our game, and we have to stop it."
Luverne dominated play in the third quarter while trimming Marshall’s lead to one point.
The Cards received the kick to start the second half and mounted an eight-play, 68-yard drive that ended with Zach Skattum scoring on a 10-yard run 3:31 into the third quarter. Fisher’s extra point cut Marshall’s lead in half at 14-7.
Luverne’s scoring drive featured two key penalties (10-yard pass interference infraction and a 15-yard face-masking penalty) on the Tigers.
The LHS defense kept the newly-gained momentum by forcing the Tigers to punt five plays into their initial possession of the second half.
The Luverne offense took over on its own 36 and covered 64 yards in seven plays before Tony Sandbulte scored from four yards away with 2:48 remaining in the third quarter.
A mishandled snap during the extra-point attempt led to an incomplete conversion pass, keeping the Tigers in front 14-13.
Luverne got the ball back when a Tiger receiver fumbled after a completed pass, and Sandbulte recovered the loose ball on the LHS 12 with 1:27 remaining in the third quarter.
The Cards picked up two first downs before giving the ball back to Marshall at the LHS 36 on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Nine plays later, Tiger quarterback Sam Wiener tossed a six-yard touchdown pass to Travis Bredeson in the back of the end zone. A pass for the conversion fell incomplete, leaving the Tigers with a 20-13 cushion with 7:58 left to play.
After the Tiger defense forced LHS to punt three plays into its ensuing possession, Marshall put together a nine-play, 63-yard drive that was capped by Sam Wiener’s two-yard touchdown run with 3:21 remaining. Cody Vincent booted the extra point to increase the lead to 27-13.
As grim as the situation looked at that point, Luverne made a serious bid to knot the score in the final three minutes of the game.
With a 52-yard pass from Fisher to Andrew Norton moving the ball deep into Marshall territory, a six-play, 72-yard drive ended with Fisher tossing an 11-yard touchdown pass to Luke Iveland during a fourth-and-three situation with 1:47 left to play. A blocked extra-point attempt kept the Tigers in front, 27-19.
Luverne was unsuccessful in its attempt to recover an on-side kick, but the Cards got the ball back when Marshall fumbled three plays later and LHS defender Ryan Goebel recovered on Luverne’s 39 with 47 seconds left.
A five-yard penalty on the Tigers and a 12-yard reception by Jordan Papik moved the ball to the Marshall 44, but the threat ended when Bredeson picked off a Fisher pass with 35 seconds remaining.
"You have to give Marshall credit," Swanson said. "They came out and really took it to us in the first half. They did some really nice things, stepping up in a lot of situations and making the plays. That’s a credit to them, and we need to do more of that. We just made too many mistakes."
Team statistics
Luverne: 198 rushing yards, 153 passing yards, 351 total yards, 16 first downs, nine penalties for 80 yards, three turnovers.
Marshall: 119 rushing yards, 226 passing yards, 345 totla yards, 12 first downs, seven penalties for 66 yards, two turnovers.
Individual statistics
Rushing: Skattum 9-61, Fisher 7-52, Kyle Crable 13-38, Sandbulte 6-37, Brad Walgrave 2-7.
Passing: Fisher 9-20 for 153 yards.
Receiving: Iveland 5-77, Crable 2-12, Norton 1-52, Papik 1-12.
Defense: Skattum two sacks, Sandbulte one fumble recovery, Goebel one fumble recovery.