Marquette Redmen Football Falls to Traverse City St. Francis 42-3

Marquette, MI – August 24, 2018 – It’s football season on the U.P. once again, and the Marquette Redmen kicked off their 2018 campaign with a 42-3 loss to the Traverse City St. Francis Gladiators.  This was the fourth year in a row that Marquette has played T.C. St. Francis, and the fourth year in a row that they have lost.

The Redmen fell behind early as Traverse City St. Francis scored on a 77-yard run by Danny Passinault just 52 seconds into the game.  Marquette did little with their first possession, turning the ball over on downs in their own territory.  The Gladiators failed to put any points on the board during the ensuing drive, but the Redmen broke their offense open with a 56 yard catch by Ethan Martysz to bring Marquette down to the Gladiators’ 8 yard line.  The Traverse City defense held strong, though, and allowed only a field goal, preserving their lead at 7-3.

The Gladiators began the second quarter with a missed field goal, and Marquette took over possession at their own 20 yard line.  Ethan Martysz made another impressive catch to bring the Redmen up to the 45, and the Redmen soon crossed over into T.C. territory.  They didn’t get far, though, and Marquette turned the ball over on the 42 yard line after a 4th -and-2 rush by Drew Gale yielded no gain.  The Gladiators had a few plays with small yardage gains, and then a 45-yard rush by Tom Hegewald doubled their lead, making the score 14-3.  Traverse City scored again before the half was over on a 40-yard run by George Mackey, increasing their lead to 21-3.  Marquette gained some steam on their next possession, stringing together two plays to take them from their own side of the 50-yard line to inside the T.C. red zone, but the drive ended in a disappointing turnover on downs deep in Gladiator territory.  The rest of the quarter passed uneventfully, and the Redmen went into the locker room at halftime trailing 21-3.

Marquette looked to turn things around coming out of the half. At the top of the third quarter the Redmen powered through, making consistent gains to try and even out the score. Drew Gale ran the ball down to the 2 yard line only to give up possession on the next play.  The Gladiators widened their lead with a 97 yard run by Danny Passinault right into the endzone making the score 28-3 with the extra point.  Shortly after, the Gladiators took advantage of a Redmen fumble to cash in on another touchdown to bring the score up to 35-3 to close out the third quarter.

Marquette took possession to start the fourth quarter. Their efforts were no match for the Gladiators who nabbed a 41 yard run for a touchdown. They collected the extra point to further widen their lead, 42-3.  The final minutes of the game sailed by with no change to the Marquette side of the scoreboard.

Marquette’s next game will be on Thursday, August 30, when they travel to Traverse City to take on the T.C. Central Trojans.  Pregame is at 6:30, kickoff is at 7:00, so join us for more exciting Redmen football action on Fox Sports Marquette 105.1-99.9.

Listen to the audio from the game broadcast here.