MARYSVILLE — Both Rossville and Marysville went into Friday night’s season opener knowing the game would tell each of them a thing or two about themselves.
Namely, was Marysville ready to show it can compete with Class 3A’s best programs? And did Rossville, coming off two straight undefeated 3A title seasons, still have the stuff it takes to win it all again?
Rossville’s 27-20 victory certainly would suggest a “Yes” answer to both questions.
Host Marysville had the Bulldawgs and their 28-game winning streak a bit on the ropes, taking a 20-14 lead in the third quarter. But Rossville showed a championship-caliber response, scoring the go-ahead touchdown midway through the fourth quarter and denying Marysville on three attempts into the end zone in the game’s final 14 seconds to preserve the win.
“They’re probably a little better than I thought and that’s not taking anything away from what I thought about them,” Rossville coach Derick Hammes said of Marysville, which entered last year on a 32-game losing streak but rebounded to make the playoffs. “I thought they were better than us up front tonight and I thought they played confidently, which we knew they would. They had some momentum coming from last year and they did a heck of a job tonight. They made us earn that one.”
Indeed, Rossville had to call on its experience from playing in big game after big game over the past few seasons, and do so in crunch time.
Tied entering the fourth quarter after Marysville had taken a 20-14 lead on the opening possession of the second half, Rossville put together a drive one could simply call a man-up possession. Eschewing its quick passing game, the Bulldawgs simply lined up and ran it straight at a Marysville defense that had largely bottled up their ground game and done a good job of owning the line of scrimmage.
Senior Jacob Bradshaw, taking over at quarterback for departed All-Stater Tucker Horak, ran for 36 of the 46 yards on the scoring drive, capping it with a 3-yard run that made it 27-20.
“Week one everyone’s ready to go and excited about the game,” Bradshaw said. “There couldn’t have been a crazier finish for the first game of the season, but we were able to duke it out and come away with the victory, which will be huge for us going forward.”
There was still a matter of stopping Marysville, and Rossville forced one three-and-out but couldn’t ice the game offensively and had to do it again. This time, the Bulldogs nearly got it done.
A 30-yard pass from Jack Blumer to Gabe Pieschl set Marysville up at the Rossville 17, and with 14 seconds left the Bulldogs got three cracks at the end zone. But each pass fell incomplete and Rossville was able to hang on.
Though the defeat stung, Marysville coach Dustin Heuer admitted being in a position to pull the upset of Class 3A’s No. 1 team was a big step for his program.
“We joked about it all week, ‘Hey guys, we’re going to be in a situation where we have to go for two to win the game,’” Heuer said. “We had a couple plays we practiced all week to get the kids excited to be in that situation. Everything looked like it might fall in place there at the end, but we just didn’t make a couple plays and it’s tough for our kids. ... We made some mistakes, but I can’t question anybody’s effort. They left it all on the field.”
Marysville struck first on an 11-yard run by Jayton Haggard in the first quarter. Rossville quickly answered, however, putting together a 70-yard scoring drive capped by a 9-yard touchdown run from Dawson Hammes.
After Marysville fumbled the ensuing kickoff, Bradshaw hit Cole Schumacher on a 42-yard pass to the 3 and scored on the next play to make it 14-6. Marysville got a 10-yard touchdown with 2:09 left in the first half by Derek Roever and then opened the scoring in the second half on a 28-yard run by Haggard.
But Rossville wasn’t rattled and a 7-yard touchdown pass from Bradshaw to Schumacher tied it, setting up the finish.
Bradshaw did a pretty good impression of his mentor, rushing for 151 yards and two touchdowns and throwing for 185 yards and a score. Schumacher caught nine passes for 113 yards. Marysville got 118 yards rushing from Hunter Warnick and 106 passing from Blumer.
Rossville (1-0) 14 0 6 7 — 27
Marysville (0-1) 6 6 8 0 — 20
Mary — Haggard 11 run (kick failed)
Ross — Hammes 9 run (Andersen kick)
Ross — Bradshaw 3 run (Andersen kick)
Mary — Roever 10 run (pass failed)
Mary — Haggard 28 run (Warnick run)
Ross — Schumacher 7 pass from Bradshaw (kick failed)
Ross — Bradshaw 3 run (Andersen kick)
GAME IN FIGURES
Ross Mary
First downs 18 16
Rushes-yards 34-206 39-208
Passing 185 106
Comp-Att-Int 21-25-0 12-23-0
Punts 4-30.3 5-33.2
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-1
Penalties-Yards 6-44 6-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Rossville: Bradshaw 24-151, Hammes 9-52, Balch 1-3. Marysville: Warnick 29-118, Haggard 2-39, Roever 6-39, Blumer 1-12, Pieschl 1-0.
PASSING — Rossville: Bradshaw 21-25-0, 185. Marysville: Blumer 12-23-0, 106.
RECEIVING — Rossville: Hammes 6-33, Schumacher 9-113, Gfeller 5-32. Marysville: Stryker 1-6, Haggard 1-12, Rader 2-14, Lindhorst 5-25, Pieschl 3-50.
