MARYSVILLE, CA (MPG) - The Marysville varsity football team had its season end on Friday night as the Indians lost to the Bradshaw Christian Pride 21-7 in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Division VI CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Football Playoffs.

Marysville (7-4) earned a first-round bye as the No. 4 seed in the postseason tournament. Friday night’s game had 10 total possessions with each team having five a piece, making every drive matter.

The game began with a 71-yard offensive drive from the Indians that ended when senior quarterback Kayden Ellyson scored on the ground from three yards out to give Marysville an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter. The Indians were able to move the ball throughout the game as they never had to punt, but Marysville was unable to get the ball into the end zone following the opening drive.

Indians coach Will Claggett told the Territorial Dispatch that the game went just as he imagined it would. Claggett explained that he knew Marysville would be able to move the ball throughout, but it wasn’t enough on Friday night.

Bradshaw Christian (9-2) is a young group and has only three seniors on its roster, according to MaxPreps. The Pride’s rushing attack is led by a trio of sophomores that include running backs Nathan Zeppieri and Brandon Burden along with fullback Mateo Mojica.

Burden put Bradshaw Christian on the scoreboard with an eight-yard rushing touchdown early in the second quarter to tie the game. Zeppieri scored on the ground from three yards out to take the lead with 20 seconds left in the first half.

Zeppieri recorded the final points of the game with a little under nine minutes to go in the third quarter, scoring a five-yard rushing touchdown. From that point on, the game went scoreless and long drives by both squads ate up the clock for the rest of the game.

The Pride will travel to Tuolumne to play No. 1 seed Summerville (10-1) in the D6 semifinals on Friday night.

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As Bradshaw Christian celebrated after shaking hands with the Indians, hugs and tears started to flow on the Marysville sideline. The Indians tallied the most wins in a season and made the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

With Claggett’s first season at the helm of the program complete, the two consistent words you heard from every player on the Indians’ roster was “family culture.”

“He brought an entirely new energy to the team,” Ellyson said.

Senior running back Danny Lanini, who led the Indians in rushing yards throughout the season, told the Dispatch that the biggest step Marysville took this season was buying into the culture environment that Claggett attempted to instill in the program.

“Coach (Claggett) came, he showed us a new way of running things and this is where we got to today,” Lanini explained.

He added that his favorite moment this season was the win over Wheatland because he had a great game on October 14, that consisted of 144 rushing yards with two touchdowns offensively and six tackles defensively.

The Indians have a lot of seniors graduating this season. 33 of the 44 players (75%) are in the Class of 2023.

Therefore, next season players like junior center/defensive end Gerald Prescott will be looked at for leadership. Prescott said that he felt connected to his teammates the whole season. The junior added that he is going to work on his communication skills before next season.

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Senior running back Joseph Endicott reiterated the concept of everyone buying into the foundation that Claggett is building at Marysville.

“He’s great and with this loss, it’s sad and the consequences suck, but I’m satisfied,” Endicott told the Dispatch. “We had a great year and everyone on the team bought into coach.”

Endicott added his best memory of the team came from the weight room because since he had grown up with many members of the team over the years, seeing one another get stronger together just being a football player will be a lasting memory for him.

Claggett’s favorite memory for the Class of 2023 happened on October 28, when they had a 28-point lead on Twelve Bridges at halftime.

“That was so much fun being able to recognize them and see our entire field lined with seniors and then to come out like we did,” Claggett recalled.