FOND DU LAC – Back in early September, the Fond du Lac football team sat with a disappointing 1-2 record.

The Cardinals had just lost a heartbreaker to Appleton North and followed that up with an embarrassing blowout defeat at Stevens Point. The playoffs, which were almost an assumption coming into the season, were suddenly not a sure thing.

That seems like a lifetime ago. Over a month later, Fond du Lac appears like an entirely different squad than the one that began the year. Now the Cardinals head into the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the state.

Colton Wasieleski rushed for 150 yards and Keon Jefferson scored three touchdowns as Fond du Lac crushed Marshfield 46-14 in Valley Football Association South play on Friday night at Fruth Field — the Cardinals’ sixth straight win to close out the regular season.

“We did what we expected to do tonight,” Fond du Lac coach Mike Gnewuch said. “I’m pleased that we got to play a lot of kids. There’s still a bunch of things we need to clean up. We didn’t commit quite as many penalties tonight, which is good. … We’re playing good defense right now, which is key because at the beginning of the year we weren’t playing good team defense and now we are. I think we’re a dangerous team heading on into the playoffs.”

The win gives Fond du Lac (7-2, 6-2 VFA South) sole possession of second place in the conference. The Cardinals had a chance to split the league title if Hortonville had beaten Stevens Point on Friday, but the Panthers prevailed over the Polar Bears 17-7.

Fond du Lac dominated Marshfield (2-7, 1-7 VFA South) from start to finish on Friday, jumping out to a 34-7 lead at halftime and coasting in the final 24 minutes.

Jefferson scored the first of his three TDs midway through the first quarter and added another just minutes later after a blocked punt set the Cardinals up at Marshfield’s 12-yard line.

Jack Cole found Peyton Nett for a 36-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter and Levi Burns added a TD run shortly after that.

The Tigers did finally show some life when Ryan Krueger connected with Andy Goettl for an 18-yard touchdown to make it 27-7.

But that spark was quickly snuffed out when Cole lofted a 36-yard Hail Mary pass at the end of the first half that was pulled down by the 6-foot-7 Sam Fredrickson to put Fond du Lac up by four scores once again.

It was Fredrickson’s second Hail Mary TD catch in three weeks, as he caught the game-winner against Hortonville on Sept. 30.

Jefferson added one more touchdown early in the third quarter and Wasieleski capped off the night for Fond du Lac with a short score later in the period.

Fond du Lac gained a total of 446 yards from scrimmage, 309 of them coming on the ground. Jefferson thought his big night and that of the ground game in general was keyed by the Cards’ offensive line.

“It was the guys up front,” Jefferson said. “Ben Rusch, Tanner Kattre, Jason Schneider, Andrew Stone and Joe Schlagenhaft really blocked great tonight.”

Jefferson finished with 112 yards rushing. Cole was 7-of-10 passing for 137 yards to lead the air attack.

Defensively, Fond du Lac held Marshfield to just 200 yards, with much of that total coming in the second half with the outcome decided.

Krueger finished with 138 yards passing, but had two interceptions. The Tigers managed only 62 yards on the ground.

“We came close together and knew that from here on out, it’s do or die,” Fond du Lac defensive lineman Donte Johnson said. “Realizing that every play matters and every play counts.”

With the playoffs beginning next week, Johnson believes the team is hitting its stride at exactly the right time.

“We’re playing a lot better,” he said. “We knew that we had to turn it around (after the 1-2 start), otherwise our overall goal in the end wasn’t going to be there. We had to turn it around and keep it rolling.”

Marshfield 0 7 0 7 — 14

Fond du Lac 14 20 12 0 — 46

Scoring summary:

FDL— Keon Jefferson, 8 run (Jared Scheberl kick), 5:40.

FDL— Jefferson, 12 run (Scheberl kick), 2:51.

FDL— Peyton Nett, 36 pass from Jack Cole (kick fail), 9:47.

FDL— Levi Burns, 4 run (Scheberl kick), 6:21.

MAR— Andy Goettl,18 pass from Ryan Krueger (Krueger kick), 0:45.

FDL— Sam Fredrickson, 36 pass from Cole (Scheberl kick), 0:00.

FDL— Jefferson, 10 run (kick fail), 9:02.

FDL— Colton Wasieleski, 1 run (kick fail), 3:56.

MAR— Mason Coffren, 13 pass from Krueger (Krueger kick), 5:19.

Team stats

MAR FDL

First downs 10 21

Total yards 200 446

Rushing 24-62 39-309

Passes (C-A-I) 10-21-2 7-12-0

Passing yards 138 137

Fumbles 0-0 1-1

Individual leaders

Rushing: Marshfield— Brant Bohman, 16-52. Fond du Lac— Colton Wasieleski, 12-150; Keon Jefferson, 13-112.

Passing: Marshfield— Ryan Krueger 10-20-2-138. Fond du Lac— Jack Cole, 7-10-0-137.

Receiving: Marshfield— Mason Coffren, 2-50. Fond du Lac— Peyton Nett, 2-50.