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Tigers falter in first half, fall to Marshfield 28-0
After yielding 145 first-half rushing yards and three touchdowns to Marshfield Blue Jays running back Brennan Espy, the Nevada Tigers found themselves with a 28-0 halftime deficit.
With both defenses pitching second-half shutouts, the 28-0 margin held up.
The loss to Marshfield, a Big 8 Conference cross-division opponent, moves Nevada to 1-5 overall (1-3 Big 8 West), while Marshfield ups its record to 4-2.
Midway through the opening frame Nevada was hit for the first big play of the evening as Espy took a hand-off, went over the right side, and bolted 73 yards to paydirt. The extra point handed the hosts a 7-0 advantage.
Early in the second quarter Marshfield quarterback Brock Utecht connected with wide-out Truett Gardner for a 24-yard touchdown strike. Jarrett Meyer then split the uprights on the extra point, putting the Blue Jays on top, 14-0, with 11:32 remaining in the first half.
With senior tailback Jaren Powrie doing most of the damage Nevada moved across midfield several times in the first half, only to see the drives stall out on each occasion.
Midway through the second Espy broke off a 71-yard touchdown scamper, with the extra point increasing Marshfield’s lead to 21-0.
After regaining possession late in the first half Marshfield again cashed in, as Espy hauled in a 13-yard touchdown reception from Utecht. Meyer’s point after kick swelled the Blue Jays advantage to 28-0.
“We came out flat,” said Nevada head coach Wes Beachler during his postgame radio interview. “And there’s a lot of factors there, things that shouldn’t be a factor that were.”
Continued Beachler: “(There was) an accident or something on (Highway) 96 on the way down here, so we couldn’t even get to the school until 6:05. Which, kind of threw off our pre-game preparations. But that’s not an excuse, we’ve still got to play football. The field is still a 100 yards by 53 yards (wide). And when the ball is snapped, you’ve still got to play.”
“And I don’t know if that was part of the problem or what. They’re a pretty good football team. And the things we thought we could take advantage of, we didn’t do a very good job of. Pretty frustrating, but I challenged them at halftime to represent Nevada the way they’re supposed to, to play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. And I thought they did that, and I’m dang proud of them for that.”
Beachler discussed his squad’s inability to generate points.
“We should have scored twice,” noted the veteran head coach. “We drove the ball down inside their 20 (twice), and got down to their 10 one time. I bet total yards was probably pretty close. But every time we got inside their 30, we turned the doggone thing over, or we had a negative play. We get to a first-and-10 and have a bad snap, or have some fumbling in the backfield. And then it’s second-and-14. So those things are aggravating.”
Beachler discussed his squad’s defensive performance.
“(Marshfield) never did move the ball on us,” he said. “I think they had one solid drive. The (other) big plays were just missed tackles. When you see a sweep coming you’ve got to fill the alley, and make the tackle. You can’t run by the tackle. So, three big plays for them, and our inability to sustain drives, getting it inside their 30-yard line, are frustrating things.”
Concluded Beachler: “We’re bare bones, we don’t have any depth, and our kids get tired — I understand that. But they still have to play ball the way Nevada plays ball. I thought we did that in the second, we’ve just got to finish drives.”
Up next
Nevada hosts undefeated Cassville (6-0), the No. 5 ranked team in Missouri Class 3 football. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. Oct. 5.