Things did not start out well on this unseasonably warm Friday night for the Redmen. A wild pass found Menominee’s Kaeden Calcari on Marquette’s second possession, Calcari making quick work of the touchdown run with that opportunity. The Maroons led the Redmen 6-0 for a short spell.
Marquette responded quickly to turn things around. Austin Ridl unleashed a 65-yard touchdown pass to Justin Jurmu on their next possession to pull ahead of the Maroons at 7-6.
Marquette’s Alex Applekamp came up with a huge sack on Menominee’s last drive late in the quarter. The Maroons recovered after the loss on the next play with a 54-yard gain just before the transition to the second quarter.
Marquette took over on downs to start the quarter, staving off a Menominee comeback early in the second. Ridl kept the ball on the fake hand off from 30 yards out and motored into the end zone to complete the drive, the score 13-6.
Menominee got within striking distance of the end zone with under three minutes to go. The Maroons punched it in from eight yards out to complete the 15-play drive and tie it up at 13-13 just before the half.
Marquette took over at their own 37 to start their drive before time ran out. Owen Beauchamp got his hands on the ball and wasted no time on his 63-yard journey to the end zone for a surprise touchdown and a 20-13 lead.
The Redmen defense was firing on all cylinders tonight.The Redmen wouldn’t let the quarter expire without one more crowd-pleasing play. Desmond Mullen gobbled up 66 yards on a kick return to bring the Redmen deep into Menominee territory with 23 seconds to go.
Connor Johnson made the successful 27-yard field goal to make it 23-13 going into the half.
The Redmen started out strong on their first possession of the second half. Kam Karp made the catch for a 33-yard gain. Brady Wright followed that up with a gain of 13 on the next play to get Marquette to the Menominee 34.
It all came down to an Austin Ridl 11-yard pass to Owen Beauchamp for his second touchdown of the game and a 30-13 lead early in the third quarter.
Menominee continued to struggle against the Marquette defense, getting within 30-yards of the end zone before turning it over on downs.
A huge run from Brady Wright helped the Redmen get within striking distance of the end zone once again, the Marquette offense as relentless as the defense throughout this game. A slight loss pushed the Redmen back on the next play but Marquette stayed within 20 yards of the Menominee end zone at the end of the third quarter.
Ridl opened up the final quarter with a 19-yard pass to Justin Jurmu, but the would-be touchdown was waved off. The Redmen still gained about 10 yards on a penalty though, the play not a complete loss.
Brady Wright was able to seal the deal for Marquette on the next play with a 10-yard run into the end zone to make it 37-13 early in the fourth.
A Joseph Romero-Haire pass found Jonathon Spegel for a Menominee touchdown, their first since the second quarter. The score settled at 37-20 only briefly.
Marquette again responded lightning-fast. Brady Wright went for a 35-yard run on the next drive. Ridl again found Jurmu for the touchdown to answer the Maroons’ effort, extending their lead to 44-20.
Menominee was able to eek out one more touchdown to bring their deficit to 44-26 with less than four minutes to go in the game. However, Marquette had no problem running down the clock to ensure their victory over the Maroons tonight.
Tune in next Friday, October 16th for more Redmen action as they take on the Escanaba Eskymos. Tune in to Fox Sports Marquette 105.1-99.9 and 103 WFXD at 5:30 pm for the pregame show, kickoff is at 6:00 pm.
Listen to a recording of the live broadcast.
