MARSHALL — Belleville may have been given the 8-seed in the WIAA Division 6 football playoffs, but the Wildcats are proving they are better than that, coming away with a 21-7 upset of 5-seed Marshall in Level 2.
The only points the Cardinals scored were on a pick-6, and in Level 1, Belleville shut out top-seeded Cambridge.
“You earn the 10th game in the regular season, but you have to earn the 11th and 12th week to week,” Belleville head coach Mike Nolden said. “It is hard. But if your defense doesn’t give up any points, you are going to win a lot of games.”
The defense was tested early, as quarterback Brennan Keyes threw behind intended receiver Sam Arndt and into the hands of Cardinal Brady Stensven. But Cooper Nemec picked his quarterback up with a stout defensive effort. Nemec and Arndt hit intended receiver Max Timpel so hard he dropped the ball for an incomplete pass, then Nemec tipped a fourth-and-22 pass that resulted in a turnover on downs.
It wasn’t until the second quarter that either team scored. Initially, Nemec had returned a punt for a touchdown, but it was called back due to holding on the Wildcats. But Logan Derke, the Level 1 Jolly Good Football Player of the Week for his 209 rushing yards and three touchdowns, made sure his team still scored on the possession. After back-to-back carries by Keyes, Derke dashed 29 yards to the end zone for a score.
“Everything starts with our O-Line,” Derke said. “They did a beautiful job these last two weeks and allowed me to secure the honor.”
The defense did its job again, forcing a Cardinal 3-and-out. But Marshall quickly scored on a pick-6 two plays into the ensuing Wildcat drive to tie the game at 7-7.
The Wildcats rebounded quickly, scoring on their next possession. During the drive, Marshall shot itself in the foot with a 15-yard facemask penalty that put Belleville in enemy territory. Once again, Derke was the one to score, stretching over the goal line while getting tackled. The 14-7 advantage held through halftime.
On its first drive of the third quarter, Belleville started with prime field position at the Marshall 49-yard line. With a first-down run from Derke — combined with another facemask called on the Cardinals — Belleville entered the red zone. Keyes finished the drive with a 6-yard rush, and Tyler Miyamoto made the extra point, despite being pushed back five yards with a false start call.
Neither team scored for the remainder of the game, even though Marshall threatened more than once.
Late in the third quarter, the Cardinals shared the ball between three rushers to get to the Belleville 24-yard line. But a bad snap led to a fumble that was recovered by the Wildcats.
Marshall got even closer in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. Facing fourth-and-6 at the Belleville 13-yard line, quarterback Brady Kleinheinz found an open receiver in the end zone and threw. At the last possible moment, Caden Myers tipped the would-be touchdown pass.
Arndt and Nemec also came up clutch again in the fourth. Arndt should have had an interception — hauling the ball in over the head of intended receiver Carter Pettit — but he was flagged for pass interference. On the next three pass attempts, Kleinheinz targeted Timpel, but Nemec broke up each one.
“We get a couple big plays and they come back,” Nolden said of the pass interference call on Arndt and the holding call in the second quarter that brought back Nemec’s punt return. “You just tell the kids not to get too high or too low. Bad plays happen. You can’t get them back, so go make the next play.”
To put the icing on the cake, Myers intercepted a third-and-12 pass with just over a minute left in regulation. He returned it to the Marshall 14-yard line, where Belleville took a knee to end the game.
“It felt really good. I kind of zoned out before I got out of bounds,” Myers said of the interception and return. “I heard the crowd and all my teammates. It was a really fun experience.”
Eight-seed Belleville (6-6) looks to upset yet another opponent in 2-seed Lancaster (8-3). The two teams share a common opponent in New Glarus (6-4), where the Wildcats lost on a last-second TD and the Flying Arrows won 48-20.
8-seed Belleville,
5-seed Marshall
(Friday, Nov. 1 at Marshall)
Belleville …. 0 14 7 0 – 21
Marshall ….. 0 7 0 0 – 7
Second Quarter
B: Logan Derke 29-yard rush (Tyler Miyamoto PAT good), 7-0, 8:32
M: Jose Ayala-Santacruz 48-yard interception (Jackson Reichelt PAT good), 7-7, 6:16
B: Derke 6-yard rush (Miyamoto PAT good), 14-7, 1:59
Third Quarter
B: Brennan Keyes 6-yard rush (Miyamoto PAT good), 21-7
Individual Leaders
Rushing – B: Logan Derke 22-198 (2 TD), Brennan Keyes 9-59 (1 TD). Passing (comp-att-INT, yd-TD) – B: Brennan Keyes 6-16-2, 56-0. Receiving — B: Cooper Nemec 2-19, Cayson Helwig 2-16, Sam Arndt 1-12, Caden Myers 1-9.
