Colton Peltz scored three touchdowns and James Desjardins rushed for over 100 yards as the Republic Tigers beat Marshfield 40-30 Friday in their home opener. The Tigers rushed for 290 yards and quarterback Jake Smith threw for 53, for 343 total yards on the night.
Jace DuVall rushed 13 times for 80 yards and a touchdown, Josh Vaughn had two carries for 48 yards and a score, and Peltz added 46 yards on eight carries for the Tigers.
The victory came on an emotional night for the Tigers, who paid tribute to teammate Garrett Blotter, who died in a car accident during the offseason. During a pre-game ceremony, players affixed stickers with the #98 (Blotter’s uniform number) to their helmets.
The Tigers got on the board first when Jake Smith carried it in from one yard out, then threw to Jace Duvall for the two-point conversion to make it 8-0. The score was set up by a 29-yard completion to Jared Moore.
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After the Tigers defense got a stop, they scored again on a nine-yard run by Peltz with 4:48 left in the first quarter. The two-point conversion failed and it was 14-0. Peltz says he continues to settle into the new offense.
“I feel more comfortable, because we’re out there trying to keep things the same and making sure we can execute everything every time,” he says. “Coach Beachler is awesome at calling the right plays at the right time, and everyone’s everyone’s just getting after it and trying to execute.”
Marshfield finally scored on a 26-yard TD pass from Blayne Armstrong to Logan Findley, and a two-point conversion made it 14-8, which is where the score stood after one period.
In the 2nd quarter, Republic extended its lead on Peltz’s second touchdown, a one-yard run. The two-point conversion failed and it was 20-8.
On the ensuing kickoff, Republic’s Garrett Gordon forced a fumble and Brenton Skeeters recovered to give the Tigers the ball back, but Republic turned the ball over on downs inside Marshfield’s ten yard line.
Josh Vaughn broke off a 47-yard touchdown with 8:45 left in the 3rd quarter, and the Tigers led 26-8. Marshfield tried to answer with a scoring drive of its own, but Blake Fanning broke up a tipped pass with a huge hit in the end zone to shut down the Blue Jays scoring threat.
Marshfield did get back in the scoring column on its next possession with a 19-yard touchdown pass, cutting Republic’s lead to 26-14 with 3:32 left in the 3rd. But Republic answered quickly.
On the next play from scrimmage, Jace DuVall scampered 65 yards to the end zone. Mitchell Heinzler added the extra point to make it 33-14 Republic.
In the 4th quarter, Peltz scored for the third time on a four-yard run with 7:52 left, giving Republic a 40-14 lead.
Marshfield mounted a late comeback with two touchdowns and two two-point conversions to cut the lead to 40-30, but eventually ran out of time.
The Blue Jays’ Armstrong racked up 432 passing yards, and Marshfield had 483 yards total.
The Tigers have scored 40 points in each of their first two games. Republic coach Wes Beachler says he’s happy with the team’s offensive output, although there’s still work to do.
“This is their second game…and we’ve put up 40 points in the first two weeks,” he says. “If you assume, and I’d like to assume that we’re going to continue to get better, I think we could be a very good offensive ball team. Offensively, I think we’re in good shape and I think we’re going to continue to improve.”
Beachler says one of his biggest concerns was that his team lost its momentum after building a big lead early in the 2nd half.
“I think we got a little fat and happy when we got up big there, and kind of relaxed. That’s probably a little bit of human nature. I don’t doubt that we had some coaches that probably relaxed. And we’ve got to learn from that,” he says. “Trust me, it will be a point of interest next week in practice that we don’t stop playing until the end of the fourth quarter.”
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