Article and photos by T Ray Henry
The Marshall High School Lions football team hosted the Casey-Westfield High School Warriors in a Little Illini conference football game on Friday, September 25th at Bush Field on the campus of Marshall High School. It was Homecoming for Marshall as Lily Shotts was crowned Homecoming Queen and Cage Stuckey was crowned Homecoming King during the halftime ceremony.
On a perfect autumn evening, the Marshall student section, decked out in camouflage and bringing the noise louder than ever before, cheered on the Lions and kept the team motivated. The student section was so loud and distracting, the visitors from the west end of the county resorted to complaining to the officiating crew all game long.
The Lions held Casey-Westfield to their lowest scoring output of the season. Unfortunately, Marshall also turned in its lowest scoring output as the Lions lost the turnover battle by losing two fumbles and throwing an interception in a 13-6 loss.
The Lions started out strong by causing a fumble in Casey-Westfield territory at the 36-yard line with 8:35 to go in the first quarter. After the ball was moved back to the 41 on a motion penalty, Marshall’s Silas Dean took the ball on a jet sweep around the right side and took it down to the Casey 18. Max Welsh rushed the ball inside the Casey 10 to the 7-yard line, then on the next play from scrimmage, Luke Brodie threw a pass out to the left side to Silas Dean, who strode into the end zone with the first touchdown of the game with 6:32 to go in the quarter. After the two-point conversion was no good, Marshall led 6-0.
Casey-Westfield kicked a field goal in the second quarter to make it 6-3, then the visitors scored a touchdown with 4 seconds until halftime. With the kick for the extra point good, Casey-Westfield led 10-6.
In the second half, the Lions had their chances to take the lead, but they turned the ball over on downs twice, fumbled the ball, and were intercepted. Casey-Westfield also took advantage of a Marshall fumble on the Warriors second shanked punt of the night. Their first punt went 13 yards, and the second punt traveled about 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage when it hit a Lions player in the back. Casey recovered, Marshall’s defense stiffened, and the visitors settled for a field goal to lead 13-6 with 8:31 to go in the game.
The three points by the visitors turned out to be the only points scored in the second half as Marshall fell by the score of 13-6.
Marshall gained 130 yards in total offense. Max Welsh rushed for 40 yards, while Luke Brodie and Silas Dean each rushed for 21 yards. Dean also caught 4 passes for 36 yards and a TD. Brodie was 4 of 6 through the air for 36 yards and a TD.
On defense, Marshall was led by Josef Stafford, who finished with 11 tackles. Max Welsh, Fisher Bishop, Lachlan Smith, and Rocco Giannavola each had five, while Silas Dean and Bryce Parker each had four.
Marshall (2-4) plays their next game on Saturday, October 3rd when the Lions get a chance to get back in the win column when they travel to Lawrenceville for a 2:00 PM kickoff.
Marshall's student section was so on their game that Casey-Westfield complained to the officials about the crowd noise
Lily Shotts was crowned Homecoming Queen and Cage Stuckey was crowned Homecoming King during the halftime ceremony
Eli Thompson (5) makes the tackle while he is being tackled by a blocker (1)
Josef Stafford (51) led Marshall with 11 tackles against Casey-Westfield
Silas Dean (0) broke outside for a big gain for Marshall
