Hutchinson won a third consecutive Section 2AAAA football championship Friday, beating Marshall 30-14 at S.R. Knutson Field.
Hutchinson and Marshall are not strangers as the two Tiger teams have met in the section finals five times in the past 10 years. Marshall won the first two meetings in 2015 and 2016, but Hutchinson has won the last three in 2019, 2022, and now in 2023. This is Hutch’s 26th section title in school history, and it was especially sweet taking down their familiar rival.
“It feels great. Winning three years in a row is a great feat for us,” said senior quarterback Logan Butler. “We love the Tiger-on-Tiger crime. It’s always a good battle. We played them last year and they always come to punch us in the mouth, so we knew we had to punch back.”
Marshall nearly knocked out Hutchinson early in the first half. Marshall scored quickly, in just five plays, on its opening possession, and then turned Hutchinson over on downs in the red zone to take the momentum.
Hutchinson stayed tough. After forcing a three-and-out, the Tigers got the ball back in good field position and quickly punched it in on a four-play drive capped off by a 7-yard TD run from Carter Verhasselt.
“This is playoff football, so we knew we had to keep the energy high and our morale up,” senior Andrew Lipke said. “It’s section football, anything can happen.”
Marshall effectively halted Hutch’s ground game in the first half, holding the home Tigers to just 68 rushing yards in the first two quarters. Hutch was forced to turn to its quarterback, who did not disappoint.
Butler had perhaps the best passing game of his career, finishing 16-for-24 with 223 yards and two touchdowns.
Following Marshall’s second touchdown of the night and a turnover in the end zone, it looked like Hutchinson might go into the half trailing 14-6. With a little more than two minutes left on the clock, however, Butler covered 69 yards in four pass plays to tie the game on a 20-yard connection with Kaden Butler.
“He made some big plays for us tonight,” head coach Andy Rostberg said about his quarterback. “He had a nice scramble, managed the clock well, and I think we had five different kids catch balls tonight and five different kids run the ball. We were spreading it around.”
Though Hutchinson tied the game, Marshall had some fight left in it at the start of the third quarter. Hutchinson began the half with the ball and moved into Marshall territory, but a tipped pass was intercepted at the 3-yard line for another turnover in the red zone.
As Marshall began to drive, Hutchinson got a bit of luck to go its way when Nathan Thode picked off a pass at the Marshall 33-yard line. It was Hutchinson’s only takeaway of the night, but it was a big one.
Following the pick, Hutchinson marched to the end zone and scored on a 5-yard pass from Butler to Lipke to take its first lead of the night. Hutchinson then forced Marshall to punt after three plays, and promptly marched the ball down the field again for a 6-yard TD run from Thode.
“It’s a great feeling to be able to help my team secure the win,” Thode said about the interception and touchdown. “Getting a pick like that when they’re driving down on us, and then to turn it around and put it in the end zone is huge.”
“That turned the tide and took the wind out of their sails,” Rostberg said. “And then when we needed to, we were able to run the ball.”
After going to the air most of the first three quarters, Hutchinson’s offense was finally able to wear Marshall down and chew up the clock with a grinding drive that ate up a majority of the fourth quarter.
While Hutch’s offense was humming, its defense was smothering, holding Marshall to one first down in the third quarter and three in the fourth.
“We expected what we got tonight,” Rostberg said. “They’re a good football team and they showed it. In order to win a section title, you have to make great plays and beat great teams, and we ended up doing that tonight.”
SECTION 2AAAA PLAYOFFS
FINAL
Friday at Hutchinson
Hutchinson 30, Marshall 14
Marshall … 7 7 0 0
Hutchinson … 6 8 8 8
First quarter
M — Joshua Kraft 15 pass to Dawson Chappuis (Ethan Hess kick) 10:10
H — Carter Verhasselt 7 run (Verhasselt run failed) 1:19
Second Quarter
M — Kraft 2 run (Hess kick) 9:24
H — Logan Butler 20 pass to Kaden Butler (Nathan Thode run) 1:16
Third Quarter
H — Logan Butler 5 pass to Andrew Lipke (Logan Butler pass to Charlie Renner) 4:09
Fourth Quarter
H — Thode 6 run (Thode run) 11:12
Team stats
Rushing — Hutch: 43-209; Marshall: 25-119. Passing yards — Hutch: 16-223; Marshall: 8-144. Total offense — Hutch: 432; Marshall: 263.
Hutchinson individual stats
Passing: Butler 16-24-2 223 2 TD. Receiving: Lipke 4-56, Renner 6-78, Kaden Butler 4-63, Thode 1-15, Pearce 1-11 Rushing: Manny Pearce 12-81, Verhasselt 13-48, Renner 2-5, Logan Butler 5-(-2), Thode 11-77
Interception: Thode 1
