On Friday, October 23rd, the Marshall High School football team, with a record of 3-6 on the regular season, traveled to Moweaqua to play against the Central A&M/Okaw Valley Raiders (5-4) at Mark Ramsey Field on the campus of Central A&M High School in the opening round of the IHSA Class 2A playoffs. With the change in football playoffs throughout the state of Illinois, each of the eight classes in football expanded playoff participation from 32 teams to 48 beginning this season. Whether it becomes a permanent fixture in future years remains to be seen.
In the beginning of the game, Central A&M and Marshall played to a stalemate for the first eight minutes of action, where both teams for forced to punt the ball on their respective opening drives. After Marshall got a couple first downs to move the ball into A&M territory on their second drive, but the drive stalled when Marshall turned the ball over on downs at the A&M 44. The Raiders, who showed a lack of discipline throughout the contest by being flagged time and time again for personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, were called for their first of many holding calls, moving the ball back to the A&M 36. Marshall could not take advantage, though, for the Raiders marched down the field, mixing up runs and passes, to score the game’s first touchdown with 4:07 to go in the opening quarter to take a 7-0 lead.
Marshall’s offense sputtered thereafter as Central A&M scored four more touchdowns before halftime to take a 34-0 lead at the break. In the first half, Central A&M gained a total of 278 yards of offense to Marshall’s 21. The highlight for Marshall in the first half was punter Trip Gaines, who booted the ball four times for an average of 40 yards per punt with a long of 52.
On Central A&M’s first drive of the second half, the Raiders scored another TD with 7:24 remaining in the third quarter, making the score 41-0 and initiating a running clock. One more touchdown with 5:46 to go in the game gave Central A&M a 48-0 lead.
On Marshall’s ensuing drive after A&M scored their 7th TD, the Lions drove 80 yards on runs by freshmen Cooper Dahnke, Caleb Miller, and Lathan Shotts, who finished the drive with a 16-yard touchdown run with 2:24 to go in the game. Senior kicker Billy Guillemette came on and kicked the extra point to make the final score 48-7, ending Marshall’s season with a record of 3-7.
Cooper Dahnke led the Lions with 51 yards rushing. Max Welsh, who finished the season with a total of 1006 all-purpose yards, had 45 yards on the ground. Lathan Shotts had 31 yards rushing and a touchdown. Wyatt Geltz and Caleb Miller each finished with 12 yards rushing.
Rocco Giannavola had 10 tackles to lead the team on the defensive side. Lachlan Smith had 7, while Josef Stafford had 6. Silas Dean and Max Welsh each finished with 5 tackles.
The Lions are led onto the field by senior captains Wyatt Geltz (47) and Josef Stafford (51)
Marshall punter Trip Gaines had a 52-yard punt to flip field position against Central A&M
Max Welsh (23) finished the season with 1006 all-purpose yards, his first 1,000 yard season of his career
Freshman QB Lathan Shotts scored Marshall's lone TD in the playoffs on a 16-yard run against Central A&M
