Marshall holds off Southwest for Rams' first win under new coach Paul Ortega

Coming off a down season and in need of a key win, Marshall took a big leap in its rebuilding process as the Rams upset Southwest 35-28 Thursday at Gustafson Stadium.

Marshall used a strong rushing attack and came up with critical big plays in building a 28-7 advantage in the first half. The Rams withstood a Southwest comeback to notch their first win of the season.

Marshall (1-1) grinded out 246 rushing yards, led by senior running back Braylon Glover, who rushed for 156 yards and a touchdown, and from versatile wide receiver Ryan Hayes, who had two rushing scores.

Glover’s performance offset the play of Southwest running back Dre Voss, who rushed for 211 yards on 18 carries, leading a Southwest running attack that chewed out 297 yards.

The victory was the first for first-year Marshall coach Paul Ortega, who took over a team that went 1-9 last season.

“It was just great because I know these kids work hard, and they do have a lot of maybe insecurities when they play,” Ortega said. “But today they actually played. I always told them, ‘Don’t be scared to fail, go give it all you got and give ourselves the best chance to win.’ We played all we have, and we gave ourselves opportunity.”

Ortega said his squad learned a lot from its season opening 33-14 loss to Southwest Legacy last week.

“First of all, Legacy was a good team, and we hung ourselves,” Ortega said. “We know, we went back and looked at the film and saw the mistakes we did, where we hurt ourselves. We knew if we just executed at a high level, we were going to give ourselves the best chance to win. And we gave ourselves a chance to win today.”

Marshall scored on its first two drives to take a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. On Rams’ opening possession, Hayes scored on an 11-yard end around, capping a seven-play, 70-yard drive with 9:13 left in the opening quarter.

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Marshall’s Camron Velasques recovered a fumbled Southwest punt snap, which set up the Rams at the Southwest 8-yard line. On the next play, Glover made a bid for the goal line before he was hit at the 1-yard line, jarring the ball loose into the end zone. Fortunately, for Marshall, wide receiver Dominic Ponce pounced on the ball for the touchdown to give the Rams a 14-0 lead at the 6:34 mark of the first quarter.

Southwest finally put together a drive on the next possession, starting with a 29-yard run by Voss and boosted by a 41-yard scamper from Nehemiah Parson, which put the Dragons at the Marshall 5. Two plays later, quarterback Julleus Castillo scored on a 1-yard sneak to pull Southwest within 14-7 with 4:06 left in the first.

Marshall answered on its next possession, as Josiah Varela scored on a 20-yard run on the second play of the second quarter, capping a 12-play, 62-yard drive. The Rams then went for an onside kick, which was recovered by kicker Bruno Correa-Raynos, setting Marshall up at the Southwest 49.

The recovered onside kick led to Hayes’ 6-yard scoring run, giving Marshall its largest lead at 28-7 with 8:11 in the second.

Southwest came up with a big special teams play of its own when Ryan Garay returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for the score.

After forcing Marshall to punt, Southwest got the ball back and made good use of it. Voss started the Dragon drive by ripping off a 65-yard run to the Marshall 10-yard line. Two plays later, Jovonny Amador hooked up with Armani Myles for an 8-yard score to pull Southwest within 28-21 with 3:03 left in the first half.

Southwest tied the game up at 28-28 in the fourth quarter on Blaine Chessher’s 3-yard scoring run with 6:36 left in the game. But the Rams had one more scoring drive left in them as Marshall went 68 yards in 10 plays. Glover scored the game-winning, 29-yard touchdown run, bouncing off a few tacklers on his way to the end zone, with 1:52 remaining in the game.

The Dragons mounted one last drive to tie the game, but Marshall stopped Amador as he was trying to scramble towards the end zone at the Rams’ 5-yard line as time ran out.

Glover said the Marshall squad this season has a different mentality from the one of last year.

“I would say last year’s team when we get down by a certain amount, if we get down by a touchdown or so, the energy just drops,” Glover said. “This year’s way different. Everybody is trying to compete, everybody’s trying to win. It’s a whole different energy from last year.”

Southwest (0-1) looks to regroup after dropping its first official game of the season. The Dragons were up 14-0 on Victoria East last week when the game was canceled with play suspended in the first half because of inclement weather.

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This article originally published at Marshall holds off Southwest for Rams’ first win under new coach Paul Ortega.