The Redmen took over the ball to start their 2019 season, but they couldn’t make anything happen on their first possession. The Gladiators took over for their first drive, though the first half of the quarter remained scoreless.
The Redmen struggled to shake off the rust. They collected three encroachment penalties, leaving TC St. Francis with some opportunities to put some points up on the board.
The Gladiators were the first to strike with a touchdown from Owen Mueller. The kick was good and the Redmen trailed 7-0 with 6:23 to go in the quarter.
A Gladiators sack cut Marquette’s second possession of the game short. The Redmen’s Dakota Fortin followed up with some great defense to stop Kolin Endres in his tracks, resulting in a loss of seven yards for the Gladiators. There was no change to the score as the first quarter came to an end.
TC St. Francis didn’t waste any time in the second quarter. Aidan Schmuckal nabbed a Gladiators TD immediately. The successful kick gave TC St. Francis a 14-0 lead in the first half over the Marquette Redmen.
The Redmen had some work to do offensively on their first possession of the quarter. A couple of hiccups gave way to a massive 48-yard gain with an Austin Ridl to Drew Wyble pass, Wyble gobbling up the turf down to the TC St. Francis seven yard line.
There was no conversion for the Redmen, but a successful Wyble field goal put Marquette on the board for a score of 14-3.
TC St. Francis ran away with some huge gains early in their next possession. Marquette put the kibosh on a third touchdown for the Gladiators, however. TC St. Francis still picked up a field goal from Andrew Bliss for a score of 17-3, but the damage could have been a lot worse.
Marquette came out with a huge gain during their second possession of the second quarter. Austin Ridl found Isaac Johnson for a gain of 32 yards. Then a massive catch from Collin Hicks brought it in for a Redmen touchdown. A successful kick improved the Redmen to 17-10 behind the Gladiators before the half.
Marquette defense did the heavy lifting to keep TC St. Francis at bay early in the second half. Drew Wyble took Gladiator Sterling Holcomb to task to produce an incomplete pass, the first for Endres in the game. Marquette took over from there pretty quickly for their first possession of the half.
Marquette could not convert and the Gladiators were quickly back in the driver’s seat. A long drive brought TC St. Francis down to the Marquette’s six yard line. Aidan Schmuckal slipped into the endzone a few plays later for a Gladiator touchdown and a score of 24-10.
The score stayed put going into the final quarter. Marquette took over at their own one yard line early after a misstep from the Gladiators, injecting some life into the Redmen offense.
Hicks quickly made a leaping grab on the next play for a gain of 25 yards. A 28-yard completion for Ridl to Wyble followed in short order. Marquette inched closer to the endzone, but the Redmen came up just short and TC St. Francis took over.
A couple of Gladiator fumbles gifted Marquette another chance as they took the ball right back at midfield. A heartbreaking fumble from the Redmen put the ball right back into TC St. Francis’ hands, however, and the game was all but over with five minutes to go.
A late Gladiator touchdown improved TC St. Francis to 31-10. It looked like that would be all for the Redmen, but a Ridl to Hicks touchdown pass on the next Marquette possession brought the score to 31-17.
The Redmen showed a lot of heart in spite of their season opener loss, and there’s a lot more football to come this fall. The Redmen will be back in action Friday, September 6th against Traverse City Central at home on Fox Sports Marquette 105.1-99.9 and 103.3 WFXD. The pregame show starts at 6:20 pm, kickoff is at 7:00 pm.
Listen to a recording of the live broadcast.
