MFL MarMac concluded its season Oct. 23, in a 48-8 loss to one seed Clarion-Goldfield-Dows in the opening round of the Class 1A football playoffs.
Racking up nearly 350 rushing yards, the Cowboys scored 42 unanswered points before the Bulldogs got on the board with a Kade Strong touchdown and Cameron Hagensick two-point conversion with just over four minutes remaining in the game.
“Being a four seed is tough,” acknowledged MFL MarMac head coach Dan Anderson. “You have to go on a long road trip and play against a really good team. They don’t have many weaknesses. They are big and physical up front. They are juniors and seniors across the board. We’ve made a lot of improvements, but we still have a lot of sophomores out there. We’re a pretty physical football team, and the kids fought the whole time, but we just couldn’t match up.”
Eight players carried the ball for the Cowboys, including three with 71 or more yards.
“They just kept pounding it right at us. It wears you down,” Anderson said. “We couldn’t seem to get too many tackles for loss or stops.”
Clarion-Goldfield-Dows quarterback J.D. Morrical, who led the team with 75 rushing yards, also threw the ball three times—each a touchdown pass—totaling 93 yards.
The Cowboys turned the ball over just once, a fumble recovered by Tristan Hoopes.
Hagensick led MFL MarMac’s defensive effort with 8.5 total tackles. Blake Schutte followed with 7, Blake Roe 4.5, Taco Thompson 3 and Dax Diemel 2.5.
The Bulldog offense struggled to gain momentum, picking up just 190 total yards all night. Diemel accounted for 83 of the team’s 146 rushing yards, after carrying the ball 15 times. Strong compiled 21 yards and the touchdown on three carries, while Schutte added 16 yards, Hagensick 14 and Kashton Decker 12.
Quarterback Easton Lange threw 16 passes, but only three resulted in catches. One pass was picked off.
“We dropped too many passes that hit us right in the hands. Against a really good team, you’ve got to make every play count,” Anderson said.
With the loss, the Bulldogs finished 4-5. Although not the ending the team hoped for, Anderson was proud of their efforts that night and all season long. Seniors Schutte, Hagensick, Decker, Rylan Schroeder, Ashton Phillips, Hunter Johnson and Gage Paulus were a big part of that, he noted.
“The seniors were great leaders. Whether we would win or lose, they were good leaders for the young guys and showed the young guys what to do to be successful. They were very positive, but also made these younger guys be accountable. We’re going to miss our seniors,” Anderson said.
Now, it’s time for the younger guys to step up and fill those roles.
“We’ll return a lot of guys. We feel good about the future,” Anderson said. “We stepped up from 1-7 to 4-5. These kids work hard, they do what we ask them to do, and in the off season, if they get in the weight room and do what we ask them to do there, then the sky is the limit. Hopefully we can just keep rising up.”
