Lee Combs took the opening kick off and returned the ball to the 21 yard line. The Lions were only able to advance the ball eight yards and had to punt on fourth down.

On their first possession, Williamsville didn’t have any better luck and punted back to the Lions. Tyler Bishop, who ended up having a very good game, was in on a couple of the plays that stopped the Bullets.

Marshall’s next possession led to their first score. The 80-yard drive consisted of carries by Andre Strohm, Taylor Duncan and complet-ed passes to Dustin Morey and Jacob Duncan.

From the six yard line, quarterback T. Duncan kept the ball, rolled to the left and found the end zone. He was provided with a good block by Morey. Luke Nelson’s extra point attempt was no good, but the Lions were on the board 6-0.

The first quarter ended with the Bullets having possess-ion of the ball. Before the first quarter ended, they were able to move the ball down to the 17 yard line. Dalton Sanders, Jared Boyll, Lee Combs, Trey Trudeau, Strohm, J. Duncan and T. Duncan all worked to stop the Williamsville advance.

As the second quarter began, the Bullets had the ball on the 17 yard line on third down and three yards to go. Bishop and Boyll stopped the runner from getting much, but the Bullets decided to go for it on fourth down and about a half yard to go.

They got the first down, but on the next play, Sanders brought the running back John Gerding down at the six yard line. The Lion defense stepped it up and put the pressure on the quarterback, forcing an incomplete pass. On third down, Jacob Minnich brought down the quarterback after a high snap for a loss of four yards.

On fourth down, the Bullets completed a pass, but came up short of the end zone. That gave the ball back to the Lions at the three yard line.
T. Duncan and Strohm ran the ball out to the 16. However, the Lions had to punt the ball to the Bullets on fourth down. A flag was thrown against the Lions for illegal procedure, and Williamsville took over at the 45 yard line.
Bishop held the quarterback to no gain on first down, but on second down quarterback Josh Gentile found his 6’3” receiver Travis Combs down field. From the 16 yard line, excellent defense by Trudeau and Minnich and great pass coverage by Jordan Grooms kept the Bullets quiet. On fourth down and 11 yards to go, the Lions took back possession with an interception by Boyll.
On first down for the Lions, Strohm broke several tackles and gained 10 yards. T. Duncan was able to gain four yards on a run and then found Morey for a pass, but was shy a half yard from the first down marker.

Running behind some great blocking by the front line, T. Duncan was able to pick up the first down. The Bullets held the Lions on the next two downs and then T. Duncan was sacked for an 11-yard loss.

T. Duncan punted the ball on fourth down all the way to the 10 yard line. The Bullet quarterback kept the ball on first down and ran for a first down before being brought down by Grooms. T. Duncan intercepted the pass on the next play. Williamsville was then called for two penalties- holding and personal foul, resulting in a 15-yard penalty.

With just seconds left on the clock in the first half, T. Duncan and Strohm were able to get the ball into field goal range for Nelson. With five seconds remaining, Nelson hit a 27-yard field goal, giving the Lions a 9-0 lead going into half-time.
Nelson kicked off to begin the second half and Sanders wrapped up the receiver at the 27 yard line. Minnich and Boyll contained the quarterback Gentile on the first down play and pressure by J. Duncan and Bishop caused him to throw the ball away on the second down. On the third, Gentile kept the ball and ran for a huge gain before being brought down by Boyll.

Williamsville had another big gain on second down when Gentile hit Gerding for another first down. The Bullet advance slowed with an incomplete pass and a  quarterback sack by Trudeau, followed as well as a holding call against Williamsville.

That put the Bullets back on the 44 yard line with 20 yards to go on second down. Marshall was called for off-sides on the next two plays.

The Lions were determined to prevent a Bullet score. Bishop stopped a run up the middle, Grooms knocked away a pass, and Marshall took over at the 27 yard line. On first down, Strohm was hit in the backfield for a three-yard loss. A second down pass to Morey was tipped and caught by a Bullet player.

Williamsville was already in Marshall territory on the 26 yard line when Gentile kept the ball and headed towards the end zone. T. Duncan was able to bring him down at the 12 yard line.

On the next play, Boyll was able to recover a bad snap and the Lions took over at the 32 yard line. On a third down play, T. Duncan eluded tacklers behind the tough Lion offensive line and took the ball all the way to the Williamsville 33 yard line.

Strohm carried the ball on the next two plays and chiseled away 11 yards. From the 18 yard line, T. Duncan kept the ball and took it to the nine. On the next play, he handed off to Strohm who plowed up the middle for a Lion touchdown. The extra point was good and Marshall led 16-0.

The last four minutes of the third quarter was dominated by the Bullet offense. They moved the ball from their own 31 yard line down to Marshall’s 35. Williamsville’s wide receiver Combs caught a tipped pass and was headed for the end zone, but was shoe-string tackled by T. Duncan at the five yard line.
Again the Bullets were knocking at the door but were stopped by the great defense of Boyll, Bishop and Sanders.

The final quarter started with the Bullets on the four yard line. Sanders stopped the runner at the one yard line. Aaron Rhoads then stopped the runner for a four-yard loss, and the Lions took over at their own five yard line. On first down, T. Duncan took the ball all the way to mid-field, but it was called back on a holding call against the Lions.

At this point, the Lions had time on their side, and their goal was to simply run the clock out. Their game plan worked as T. Duncan, Strohm and Combs kept the ball on the ground and continued to advance on first downs.
The game ended with Marshall taking a knee at the Williamsville 11 yard line to run the clock out.

Marshall advances to the Elite 8 and will meet with cross-county rivals Casey-Westfield Warriors Saturday in Casey.

Coach Todd Evers was extremely pleased with his offensive and defensive lines. “They did a great job and lasted to the end,” said Coach Evers. “Twice the defensive line held the Bullets inside the five yard line. He continued, “They had some big stops and have gotten better every week.”

Speaking about next week’s game against Casey, Coach Evers commented, “We’ve got to play smart and mistake-free, but we can play with them.”

Taylor Duncan - 24 carries, 141 yds, 1TD; Lee Combs - 4 carries, 22 yds; Andre Strohm - 21 carries, 86 yds, 1TD.

Dustin Morey - 4 receptions, 21 yds; Jacob Duncan - 3 receptions, 28 yds.

Taylor Duncan - 7/10, 49 yds.

Luke Nelson - 1/1 field goal, 1/2 kick points, 4KO for 165 yds. Taylor Duncan - 3 punts, 135 yds. Jacob Duncan - 1 KR 8 yds, 1PR, 9 yds.

Jordan Grooms - 2, Dustin Morey - 1, Taylor Duncan - 5, 1 interception; Jacob Duncan - 8, Lee Combs - 4, Logan Cannady - 1, Trey Trudeau - 7 (2.5 sacks), Andre Strohm - 5, Jared Boyll - 8 (1 sack, 1 fumble recovery), Jacob Minnich - 3 (.5 sack), Dalton Sanders - 10, Aaron Rhoads - 1, Tyler BIshop - 8 (1 sack), Rodney Troutman - 1.