Maroons pull away from Sentinels

MARQUETTE, Mich. — Menominee sent its punt team onto the field on fourth-and-4 from its own 38 with 8:39 left in the first quarter Thursday night. Marquette lined up to return it.

The punter never got the ball. Jackson Myszak took a direct snap out of the single wing, found nobody in front of him and ran 62 yards.

It was the first of seven Menominee touchdowns in a 49-19 win over Marquette at William R. Hart Stadium, and it set the shape of the night. The defending Division 7 state champions held the ball, moved it in long stretches, and the Sentinels could not get it stopped or get it back.

Marquette is 0-2. Head coach Eric Mason did not spend any time looking for a bright side.

“Embarrassing,” Mason said afterward.

An offense Marquette had not seen

Menominee runs a single wing. Its linemen set in three-point stances, the ball goes straight to a back, and the quarterback is as likely to block as to throw. It gave Marquette problems before it gained a yard.

The Sentinels jumped early twice on the opening series, the second one handing Menominee a first down. Then the Marquette front went to work. Tyler Hendrickson sacked Dylan Beal for a loss of about seven, and Braylon Zdunek came off the edge to drag down Myszak in the backfield on the next snap.

That left a long third down, and Menominee got 17 yards back on a throw to Brody Daigneau. Which brought up the fourth down the Maroons decided not to punt.

Marquette had a chance to answer. It moved to the Menominee 18 and faced fourth-and-7, called a screen to Wesley Robinson and got it stopped three yards short by Kiefer Chouinard. Menominee took over on downs at its own 18.

On third down from its own 37, Beal rolled right, was chased back, stepped up and threw to Jett Thonne, who had gotten behind the coverage without anyone accounting for him. Robinson had the angle and could not close it. Beal threw to Myszak in the corner for two, and with 1:30 left in the first quarter it was 16-0.

Marquette gets on the board, then gives it back

Evan Brown returned the ensuing kickoff to the Marquette 48, and the Sentinels put together the drive that had been missing. Leonard, working out of the shotgun, threw down the field to Robinson for a first down at the Menominee 20. Faccio took it to the 11. Dylan Pond lost a couple.

On third-and-8, Leonard looked left and threw a flat route to Brody Clements, who fought off a tackler and got in. It was Clements’ first touchdown of the season. Epper’s kick made it 16-7 with under 10 minutes left in the half, and for the first time all night the game looked like a game.

It did not stay one. Faccio broke a long run later in the half and Caleb Barstow ran him down and ripped the ball out. Menominee recovered. A face mask penalty on the return moved it inside the Marquette 20, and another penalty on the next series gave the Maroons first-and-goal at the 7.

Marquette’s defense nearly held. Beal lost two on a keeper with Robinson and Connor D’Ambrosio in on the tackle. A bubble screen to Daigneau got to the 6, where Will Bradley brought him down. On third-and-goal, Beal threw a slant to Daigneau for the score. Chouinard threw the two-point try on a double reverse and it landed out of bounds, so it stayed 22-7 with under a minute to play.

Marquette had one snap left. Leonard hit Clements, Clements tried to pitch it back, the ball came loose and Robinson picked it up and was tackled behind the line as the half ended.

The third quarter, and the 10-yard line

Marquette took the second-half kickoff and needed two plays to reach Menominee territory. Clements caught a nine-yard pass. Faccio took the next handoff off tackle, cut back to the middle and ran 53 yards to the Menominee 18.

The Sentinels came away with nothing. A fade to Clements was incomplete, Pond got four, a throw to Brown was low, and on fourth-and-6 Leonard’s pass to Brown was stopped just short of the marker. Menominee took over on downs at its own 10.

That was the game’s turning point, and Menominee treated it like one. Myszak ripped off two runs of more than 20 yards to get into Marquette territory. With 8:54 left in the quarter, Beal threw to Zander Jurkiewicz, who came across the formation on a shallow drag and found nobody near him, for a 43-yard touchdown. Jacob Counts kicked the extra point.

Marquette responded from an unlikely down and distance. Facing fourth-and-19 after Jurkiewicz sacked him, Leonard felt pressure, threw off his back foot and put it up for Brown, who came down with it in the end zone from 37 yards out. The extra point was no good. It was 29-13 with 5:19 left in the third.

Menominee scored again on a fourth down. On fourth-and-4, Beal rolled out and hit Jurkiewicz on a deep out for his second touchdown catch of the night. Josiah Youngren got a hand up and blocked the extra point, leaving it 35-13 with 2:06 to go in the quarter.

Faccio ran off the left edge to the 1 on the next drive and scored on the following snap with 17 seconds left in the third. Marquette went for two, and Leonard’s throw to Skyler Blackburn in the back corner landed out of bounds. 35-19.

Running out the fourth

That was as close as it got. Menominee spent the fourth quarter taking the play clock down to its last seconds before nearly every snap, and Marquette needed a stop or a turnover to make the clock matter.

It got neither. Leonard was intercepted by Daigneau. With 9:43 left, on second-and-10, Beal stepped up and found Thonne wide open again for his second touchdown catch, then threw to Jurkiewicz for two points to make it 43-19.

Marquette’s next drive ended when a pass glanced off Blackburn’s hands and Chouinard came down with it. Menominee drove to the Marquette 34, and Myszak took a handoff up the middle, made two defenders miss and scored with about seven minutes to play. The Maroons faked the extra-point kick and threw for two, which failed, and that was the final margin.

The numbers

Myszak carried 25 times for 240 yards and two touchdowns. Beal completed nine of his 11 attempts for 209 yards and five touchdown passes and added 27 rushing yards on eight carries. Thonne caught two passes for 118 yards and two scores. Jurkiewicz caught two for 52 and two scores.

Marquette threw the ball 40 times between Leonard and Robinson. Leonard was 21 of 36 for 278 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions in his second start. Faccio ran 16 times for 84 yards and a touchdown. Blackburn caught eight passes, Robinson six, Clements four and Brown three, and Brown’s three went for 73 yards. All statistics are unofficial.

What Mason said, and what comes next

Mason was told there had been some positives, that Leonard looked in command of the offense. He was not interested.

The problem, he said, was that it was the same problem as the week before, when Negaunee beat Marquette 30-28 on three long touchdown passes to one receiver. Two games, two nights of blown assignments in the secondary.

Asked how he felt about next week’s conference game at Sault Ste. Marie, Mason did not dress it up. “Right now? Not good.”

It is the Sentinels’ first road trip of the season. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Statistics compiled from the Fox Sports Marquette broadcast and are unofficial.