SENIOR LEADERSHIP — Fairmont seniors, from left: Tanner Rosch, Noah Nelson, Tyler Davis, Shayne Steinbrink, Kainen Craig and Bryant Armitage, along with Everardo Hernandez (not pictured), will guide the Cardinal football team into its first game of the season against the Marshall Tigers at 7 p.m. Friday night at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall. (Photo by Charlie Sorrells)

FAIRMONT — Surreal.

The last time Marshall mentor Terry Bahlmann’s Tiger football team battled Fairmont head coach Mat Mahoney’s Cardinals was the 2019 season-opener on Aug. 30 at Mahoney Field in Fairmont.

Four hundred and 19 days later, the two finally meet again.

The Cardinals will venture to Mattke Field on the Southwest Minnesota State University campus in Marshall for their 2020 season-opener at 7 p.m. Friday night, while the Tigers will seek their third consecutive victory in as many games this fall.

“On one hand, we have an advantage of being able to watch actual game film on them,” Mahoney said in reference to the Tigers’ 49-16 win over New Ulm in Week 1 and a 35-0 shutout over St. Peter last Friday night. “On the other hand, we haven’t taken one snap or played an official down yet this season.”

Bahlmann can relate to his coaching counterpart’s plight in reverse.

“For the third week in a row, we have no film to break down on our opponent, so we’ll just have to anticipate that Fairmont will run what they’ve run in the past, with some modifications to fit their personnel,” said Bahlmann. “We’ll have to make adjustments throughout the game, and see what we can get accomplished.

“The one given is we know their quarterback does a good job of both running the ball and throwing it.”

“While we lost some quality leaders in the trenches to graduation, we do have a number of quality skill guys returning on offense,” said Mahoney. “Zach (Jorgensen) led us in both rushing (510 yards and nine touchdowns) and passing (1,317 yards and 17 TDs) as a sophomore last season, and we have good depth at running back, too.

“We’ll try to be as balanced as we can offensively, but if somebody gets a hot hand, we’ll stay with what works.”

Senior Noah Nelson and junior Hudson Artz bring speed and quickness to the Cardinals’ ground game, while junior Gavin Rodning can grind out the tough yards. All three return to take handoffs from Jorgensen, with Tyson Kube prepared to help create running room with his path-clearing blocks from his upback position again.

“We’re going to have to lean on our sophomores and ask them to do a lot this season,” Mahoney said in reference to two-fifths of his offensive line and at least two of his receivers.

Senior Shayne Steinbrink returns to handle Fairmont’s snapping duties, while junior 320-pounder Noah Rahm settles into his spot at left tackle. Tyler Davis, a 245-pound senior, will join sophomores Sawyer Tordsen (6-5, 250) and Gavin Junkermeier (6-3, 200) in rounding out the Cardinals’ blockers in the trenches.

“We’ve got the same scenario on defense in that we graduated most of our guys upfront,” said Mahoney. “We’ll definitely be young in our front four, with Tordsen at a tackle spot and Hank Artz, a 6-foot, 215-pound eighth-grader, at an end.”

The Cardinals, however, do return what Mahoney referred to as “the glue” of the defense in the secondary.

“We’ve got three athletic linebackers in Kube, Hudson and Rod (Rodning), while our defensive backs have good speed and a lot of experience back there in Eli (Anderson), Jorgy (Jorgensen) and Jake Harris.

“Then there’s Kainen Craig, who’s been our best scout team player during the past couple of seasons. The guys on our team that he had to face made him a better player, and he’s earned a spot in the secondary this season.”

Sophomore Owen Burmeister, who played midfielder in soccer earlier this fall, will handle the Cardinals’ kicking duties.

“With everything that’s happened to us during the last six weeks, we just want the opportunity to get out on the field and actually play a game,” Mahoney said in reference to the on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again preseason.

Mahoney and his coaching staff, however, will have to figure out ways to stop Marshall’s high-octane offense on Friday night.

Brevin Runia, a 6-4, 215-pound senior quarterback, has thrown for 285 yards and six TDs during the Tigers’ first two victories, with senior wide receiver Bryce Lance generating four scores via catches this fall.

“Bryce became our school’s all-time receiving yards leader and tied the school record for receiving touchdowns during last week’s game against St. Peter,” Bahlmann said in reference to the fleet-footed 6-4, 185-pound senior standout.

The Cardinals’ 4-3 defensive alignment also will have to figure out ways to slow down Tigers running back DeMario Gaines, who produced two scores on the ground a week ago.

Rodning & Co. will need to fight through the blocks of Marshall’s Deylin Hasert, a 6-5, 285-pound junior offensive tackle.

“He (Hasert) played right guard for us as a sophomore last season, but we moved him to left tackle this year,” said Bahlmann. “He’s being recruited by Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas State and Iowa State, and received some interest from Notre Dame, too.”

“Marshall is well-coached and always has numerous talented players, but we’re just focusing on getting better during this week’s game and then figuring out what we need to do to get ready for our next three games,” said Mahoney. “While there’s no state tournament to qualify for this year, we still have a trophy game (Oaken Bucket) with Jackson County Central and the chance to win another section championship. Winning both of those goes a long way in continuing our rich tradition of football here.”