North Bend came into the game with an experienced backfield but due to graduation, they had to replace the entire offensive line that had done so well in 2008 along with the tight end. Marshfield had the star QB in Kyle Tedder and he is expected to be the MWL's top QB in 2009 plus the Pirates had experience and size in their group of linemen. Marshfield had won every game from 1990 to the present and the last time the game was in single digits for scoring margin was in the 18-9 Pirate win in 1990. North Bend had played well in their last visit to Pete Susick Stadium in 2007 and had the lead in the 3rd quarter before imploding in a 31-9 loss at North Bend in 2008, which was Coach Kent Wigle's last season at Marshfield as well as Coach Rick Taylor's first at North Bend. This year it was Justin Ainsworth, a player on the 1992 Marshfield state championship team which beat Ashland, in his first year as a head coach following 6 years as an assistant coach. The popular pick was Marshfield to win the game easily due to their advantage up front.

The game started in a way that favored a Pirate rout. North Bend got the ball first and went 3 and out. Marshfield got the ball after a short punt by NB's Lucero at the Bulldog 45 and methodically drove down the field for a TD, scored by Tedder on a 3 yard run with 7:13 to go in the 1st quarter. Tedder added the XP to make it 7-0 Pirates. After the Bulldogs got a first down on a running play on their ensuing possession, the offense went nowhere for the next 3 plays and a punt resulted. The punt did carry down to the Pirate 25 so at least Marshfield did not have killer field position but with Tedder's efficient passing combined with good running, Marshfield drove the ball 75 yards in 9 plays to make it 13-0 on a 23 yard TD pass by Tedder with 53 seconds to go in the 1st quarter. The XP attempt failed to keep the score at 13-0 Marshfield.

With the 1st quarter having gone all in favor of the Pirates, it was incumbent upon North Bend to stop the bleeding. Getting the kickoff out to their 37 gave the Bulldogs reasonable field position to work with and from that point, the North Bend offense got it in gear with an 11 play drive that consumed the small amount of time left in the 1st quarter and scored a TD on a 1 yard run by Iveans with 8:03 to go in the 2nd quarter. Johnson kicked the XP through to make it a 13-7 ballgame.

From this point on, the flow of the game went from smooth to sloppy as turnovers and penalties kicked in. Marshfield fumbled on their next possession after 6 plays, then North Bend ran 6 plays and fumbled. Marshfield had the ball back at their 8 and made quite the surge toward the Bulldog goal line but they were intercepted in the end zone. North Bend took a knee to run out the clock, leaving the halftime score at 13-7 in favor of the Pirates.

At this point in the game, Tedder outclassed NB's QB Dalton Iveans as Tedder went 7-10-1 to Iveans being blanked at 0-4-1 plus a fumble. Had Iveans been more of a passing threat, there would have been much more offensive continuity for the Brown and Gold but thanks to the line coming through with good blocking,. the running game that has done well for North Bend since going down a classification in 2002 showed up and the defense did a reasonable job of bending but not breaking as Marshfield's scores came on sustained drives instead of Big Plays. Down by only one possession at the half had to hearten the players, coaches and fans of North Bend. They would get even more reason to cheer in the second half.

Marshfield got the ball first but 3 penalties killed off that possession, which became a 3 and out. North Bend returned the Pirate punt to the Bulldog 47 to set themselves up nicely on their first possession. What looked to be a 3 and out followed by a penalty on the Bulldog punt, which Marshfield accepted resulted in NB's Lucero running from punt formation when the field opened up for a first down to the Pirate 41 to keep the possession going. The drive carried right down to the shadow of the Pirate goalposts but a motion penalty on NB pushed the Bulldogs back to the 6. The outcome of the drive was that the Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs at the Pirate 5.

Marshfield had to play on a long field and after 2 first downs gained on 7 runs, they fumbled the ball. North Bend took over in Marshfield territory on the 44 and ran 3 plays before the 3rd quarter came to an end. The drive continued, aided by an offsides penalty againt Marshfield on 4th and 2 with the possession culminated by Iveans' one completion of the game, a 14 yard strike to Cameron Seiger with 9:01 to go in regulation. Johnson's XP was blocked and the game was tied at 13 all.

Marshfield did little with the ensuing possession and had to punt to North Bend, who in their turn fumbled the ball to Marshfield after two plays to set the Pirates up on the Bulldog 30, but Marshfield continued to serve up the turnovers as Tedder's attempt at a screen pass was picked off by Seiger. The clock was down to under 4 minutes to go in the game but with the passing attack not doing much, North Bend elected to keep the ball on the ground and the first downs piled up as a nice drive developed. Iveans left the game with what appeared to be cramps and Craig Banry came in to play QB for NB. The running game still moved along and when Iveans had recovered, he came back in, threw a pass and was picked off. Tedder drove Marshfield down the field nicely and had the Pirates in position to win the game with a FG but the Bulldogs blocked the first attempt. A penalty for offsides on North Bend gave Tedder a second chance but once again the Bulldog special teams came through with yet another block of the kick to keep the game tied with 4 seconds to go. Iveans took a knee and the game went to overtime.

Marshfield had the ball first and on the second play Tedder got the one Big Play for a score as he ran 25 yards and then he added the XP to put Marshfield up 20-13. A roughing the kicker penalty on North Bend meant they would start on the 40 instead of the 25 for their chance to play offense as per overtime rules. Penalties and sacks set the Bulldog cause further back and Iveans made the last turnover of the night as he was picked off on 4th down to end the game.

Last year Iveans was very much a hit and miss QB for North Bend, especially passing the ball. Tonight he was only 1-10 with 2 INT's in regulation and still needs a lot of work to be a real threat to pass the ball. Much more was expected of Tedder and he delivered early on but his combination of picks and fumbles on a 12-18 with 2 INT's performance as well as the two blocked FG attempts showed he also needs to work on his game a great deal before MWL play begins. In the end it was Tedder making the winning play while Iveans stumbled to make the difference in the game.

In North Bend's favor and surprisingly so, was the new group of linemen who include 3 burly sophomores, who have 3 seasons to flex their muscles up front. Combining that new group to power the Bulldog Bulldozer was a solid performance by FB Jake Lucero, who got some nice complementary runs by the rest of the backfield cast to enough of an extent that Marshfield could not exclusively key all their defensive efforts upon him. As a punter, Lucero's first punt was a very short one but all the other kicks as well as his ability to spot the open field on the fake punt showed he is a decent punter who will be in line for all-league consideration at that position as well as at FB, where he was a 1st team all-league player last year. The Bulldog defense yielded yards but they were well contested yards and other than the TD run in overtime by Tedder, North Bend did not give up the Big Play. That defense also recovered 2 fumbles and made 2 interceptions while being assessed no penalties to show there is the same discipline on defense that North Bend displayed in 2008.

Marshfield has made a habit of committing turnovers and it led to them having a losing season in Wigle's last year, which ended in Portland in the playoff game loss to Jefferson, a team that beat Marshfield twice. At his best, Tedder and his receivers can click right along and there is a decent group of backs to run the ball but the error rate must improve over the 2008 Pirate team's efforts if Marshfield is to get back to previous levels of success. There have been no league titles for Marshfield since 1999.

North Bend, playing in the much weaker 4-A FWL rates as the favorite to take that league again after tonight's showing. The need to pass well will need to be addressed by the playoffs in order for North Bend to have a chance to advance past the quarterfinals but there is a whole season to work with and Iveans is a senior with experience. Marshfield faces a stern challenge from defending MWL champion and state runner-up Thurston as well as good teams in Churchill and Willamette as they attempt to make the playoffs. In addition, the non-conference schedule is extra tough and Marist, who is 2-0 against the Pirates, comes to Coos Bay next week to try to run their record to 3-0 against them before Marist moves up to the MWL in 2010 and as the top ranked 4-A team, they will be favored to do so. Jefferson and Grants Pass, who have the Pirates' number are also on the schedule as is a good team from Ashland. Can Marshfield get the mistakes cut back enough to at least have a reasonable chance to win them? Tonight's Civil War showed their weak spots and with the most improvement being between the first and second game usually, I would expect a strong emphasis on ball handling skills by the QB to be the main practice point for Marshfield in the coming week. If Tedder sharpens up, Marshfield will be a dangerous team to face and since he is also a senior like Iveans, he has a season to work with but it will be a tougher slate of opponents to go against as he tries to improve his game.

The Civil War winning streak moves to 20 for Marshfield but there is hope that North Bend will be able to keep playing competitive ball against the Pirates and eventually end the streak. The 2010 matchup will feature new QB's but there should be enough experience on the line and in the backfield to make next year's game as close as this one was.

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