Marshall elected to receive the ball, and Jacob Duncan took the opening kickoff to about the 32 yard line.

Taylor Duncan quickly found Austin Wetnight open for a pass and the Lions advanced to midfield. T. Duncan hit Dustin Morey next for another first down.
On the next play a flag - the first of many - was called against Marshall. T. Duncan kept the ball and took it to the 21 yard line and then found Conor Littleton in the end zone for the Lions’ first touchdown. Luke Nelson hit the extra point and the score was 7-0 Marshall.

Nelson kicked off to the Panthers. On second down, Tyler Bishop harassed the Panther freshman quarter-back, causing him to fumble the ball. Jared Boyll recovered the fumble.

On the 38-yard line, T. Duncan found Morey open and completed the pass to the one yard line. T. Duncan kept the ball on the next play and took it into the end zone. With 8:47 left in the first quarter and the extra point good, the Lions had jumped to an early 14-0 lead.

Sam Wetherell and Colby Boyer stopped the Panthers on the return at the 35 yard line. Oblong was forced to punt on fourth down.

There were three penalties during Marshall’s next  possession. One was against Oblong and two were on Marshall. T. Duncan punted back to the Panthers and they began their play on the 15 yard line.

Oblong was only able to move the ball two yards on three plays and Marshall was called for a facemask. That gave the Panthers an extra five yards. On the 22 yard line, the Panther’s had a bad snap which went over the quarterback’s head. It was recovered in the end zone for a safety, and Marshall led 16-0.

Jacob Duncan took the punt near midfield which set the Lions up in good field position. T. Duncan complet-ed passes to both Wetnight and Morey. He then had a nice run with good blocking from Austin Osborn.

T. Duncan ran the ball in for another score from the five yard line. The extra point was good. With just over two minutes left in the first quarter, the Lions led 23-0.
Boyll, J. Duncan and Dylan Reed provided good coverage on the special teams. Two more flags were thrown in the next couple of plays. Marshall was called for offsides and Oblong was called for illegal procedure.

On fourth down and eight yards to go, the Panther quarterback found an open receiver and connected for a first down. The tough Lion defensive line of Sam Chubb, Michael Brown, Dalton Sanders, Boyer, and Boyll helped to hold the Panthers scoreless in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Marshall’s next score came on a pump fake by T. Duncan and then another completed pass to Conor Littleton in the end zone.
On the kick off return, the runner was wrapped up by Rodney Troutman and Wetherell. Two more penalties were assessed before the Panthers had to punt the ball back to the Lions.

Lee Combs returned the ball to the 33 yard line. T. Duncan completed a pass to Morey and eventually ran the ball in from the five yard line for another touchdown. With the extra point by Nelson, the Lions held a commanding 37-0 lead.

On the kickoff return, Oblong’s Denzel Hughes broke several tackles and was finally knocked out of bounds by J. Duncan at Marshall’s 13 yard line. It looked as if the Panthers might score. They completed several short passes, but Chubb and Taylor Sanders rendered another pass into the end zone incomplete.

A flag was thrown against the Panthers for unsportsman-like conduct. That penalty set them back 15 yards. On fourth down and 22 yards to go, the pass was complete but fell well short of a first down.

J. Duncan had a short run and completed another pass to Wetnight. On a first-down play, T. Duncan was pressured and sacked for a loss. The Lions couldn’t get anything moving and on fourth down, T. Duncan punted. The ball rolled to the 10 yard line.

Oblong was called for a personal foul, roughing the kicker, and Marshall got an automatic first down. Marshall was unable to capitalize on the penalty and had to punt the ball with 51 seconds remaining in the first half. The first half ended with Marshall leading 37-0.

In the second half, Oblong got the ball first, but ended up punting to Marshall on downs. J. Duncan took the kick, but fumbled the ball which was recovered by Oblong.

Dalton Sanders got his eighth sack of the season on a first down play. The next play was a pass attempt. It was tipped away by Aaron Rhoads. The quarterback Johnson tried to run on third down, but was met by Michael Brown and Aaron Rhoads. Oblong punted the ball back to the Lions.

Marshall got the ball on their own 28 yard line after a high, short kick. Duncan was sacked and then made an incomplete pass. On third down, T. Duncan was scrambling when he found Morey for a 72-yard play. It was called back because Marshall had an illegal man downfield.

T. Duncan then made a great run putting Marshall on their own 41 yard line. On second down, Marshall was called for a personal foul and set back five yards. From the 45 yard line, Combs ran the ball into the end zone for another touchdown. Nelson added the point after, making the score 44-0.

On their next possession, Oblong’s quarterback was sacked a couple of times. Adam Kendall made of the sacks. Oblong had to punt on downs. J. Duncan took the ball but fumbled it. Chubb was nearby to recover the ball.

On first down on their own the 44 yard line, Marshall had a big loss due to a bad snap. The ball went over T. Duncan’s head, and he had to fall on it at the 20 yard line.

J. Duncan came in as quarter-back, and Rodney Troutman came in to punt the ball on fourth down. The ball was blocked by Oblong and the Panthers ran the ball in for a touchdown. The extra point was no good and with seconds left in the third quarter, the Panthers were on the board with six.

To begin the fourth quarter, Taylor Sanders came in as the quarterback for the Lions. He completed a short pass to Kody Kile and then ran the ball for a first down.

Oblong got the ball back on downs. Coach Todd Evers put in a lot of reserves to give them some playing experience. Coming into the game was Nick Kahl, Paul Wieland, Taylor Maurer, Zack Bartnick, McQuaid Peterson, Brock Hook, Logan Goldsberry, Jimmy Mason and Zack McLennan.

For the next five minutes, the Panthers were able to move the ball up the field. With about four minutes left in the game, Oblong got into their end zone again. The extra point was good and the score was 44-13.

Austin Osborn came in as Marshall’s fourth quarterback of the game. Taylor Sanders was able to make a good run, breaking several tackles. The game ended with Marshall winning 44-13.

Taylor Duncan ran the ball 15 times for 102 rushing yards and three touchdowns. He was 13 of 24 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns.

Dustin Morey had five receptions for 73 yards and Austin Wetnight had five receptions for 65 yards. Conor Littleton had three receptions for 48 yards and two of those receptions were for touchdowns.

Lee Combs had one carry for 55 yards and a touchdown. Taylor Sanders carried the ball three times for 63 yards.

Marshall improved their record to 5-1. With only three regular season games remaining, the playoff opportunities for the Lions are looking good. However, like Coach Todd Evers said, “We can only look at one game at a time.”  The Lions play host to Palestine-Hutsonville this Friday night.

Austin Osborn - 1 carry; Taylor Duncan - 15 carries, 102 yds, 3TDs; Jacob Duncan - 2 carries, 11 yds; Lee Combs - 1 carry, 55 yds, 1TD; Kody Kile - 7 carries, 2 yds; Taylor Sanders - 3 carries, 63 yds.

Dustin Morey -  5 receptions, 73 yds; Conor Littleton - 3 receptions, 48 yds, 2TDs; Austin Wetnight - 5 receptions, 65 yds.

Logan Goldsberry - 1KR , 15 yds; Taylor Duncan - 13/24 passes, 186 yds, 2TDs; Jacob Duncan - 2KR-39 yds, 2PR- 37 yds; Lee Combs - 1PR, 9 yds; Kody Kile - 1 KR, 20 yds.

Dylan Reed - 1, Jacob Duncan - 5, Brock Hook - 1, Lee Combs - 2, Logan Cannady - 1, Sam Chubb - 3, Paul Wieland - 1, Trey Trudeau - 2 (1 sack), McQuaid Peterson - 1, Sam Wetherell - 3, Colby Boyer - 4, Jared Boyll - 11, Adam Kendall - 1 sack, Dalton Sanders - 7 (2 sacks), Aaron Rhoads - 1, Michael Brown - 2, Tyler Bishop - 2 (1 sack), Rodney Troutman - 1, Taylor Maurer -1.