STATE CENTER — After the handshake line, there was the hug line.

West Marshall head football coach Cody Hackett and each of his 15 seniors shared a special moment after the ninth-ranked Trojans’ final game of the season, falling 42-21 to No. 8 Underwood in Friday’s second round of the Class 1A state playoffs.

The visiting Eagles drove two and a half hours for their second-round showdown, and they made all of the miles count. Underwood (8-2) piled up 522 yards of total offense behind their standout quarterback Garrett Luett and his stable of linemen and skill position players.

Luett, a University of Iowa baseball recruit, threw for 274 yards and two touchdowns and ran for three more scores to lead the Eagles past West Marshall (7-3) and to within a win of the UNI-Dome.

“I knew they were a very solid program, a very solid team,” Hackett said after the defeat. “I knew they were going to be very physical, very tough up front.”

West Marshall will be left to lament the missed opportunities that hindered its chances, but Hackett couldn’t fault his squad’s effort after the final horn had sounded.

“This is a team that there was a lot of doubters after losing 19 seniors from a year ago,” Hackett said. “So a lot of new starters, a lot of new faces. I think we were predicted getting fourth in the district and we ended up as district champions. No one can take that away from these guys.”

The Trojans only turned the ball over once, but nine penalties plagued the team throughout the game. West Marshall trailed 14-0 after the first three and a half minutes of the game and 22-7 at halftime, but there was a window of opportunity the Trojans just couldnt’ jump through.

West Marshall received the kickoff to start the second half and used a combination of run and pass to push the ball downfield, earning first-and-goal from the Eagles’ 2-yard-line. A false start penalty, a chop block and another procedure penalty pushed the Trojans all the way back to Underwood’s 33 before turning the ball over on downs.

Luett capped Underwood’s ensuing possession with his second of three touchdown runs to give the Eagles a 30-7 lead that stole all the momentum back from the home team.

Six plays later, West Marshall quarterback Blayk Hart was intercepted by Hudson Ross, who was on the receiving end of Luett’s second touchdown pass just four plays later for a 36-7 Eagles advantage.

Hart hammered out a pair of touchdown runs in the fourth quarter, but the Trojans’ deficit was too great.

“Unfortunately we had quite a few mistakes, I should say penalties and things like that,” Hackett said. “We got the ball down in the red zone a few times, but we couldn’t get their offense off the field either.”

Underwood’s offense ran 71 plays and averaged 7.4 yards per play, piling up 248 yards rushing and Luett’s 274 passing — both season-highs allowed by West Marshall’s defense.

The Trojans got the game’s first takeaway on a Joe Kielman interception with 2:31 left in the first half, but West Marshall’s ensuing drive from its own 11 ran out of gas at the Underwood 33.

West Marshall senior wide receiver Kinnick Geers caught four passes on that 56-yard possession, but the goal line was too far for the Trojans to reach on this night.

Geers finished with 10 receptions for 109 yards and West Marshall’s first touchdown — a 39-yard pass by Hart into triple coverage that still yielded the Trojans’ biggest play of the first half.

“You’ve just got to able to get your playmakers the ball,” Hackett said. “He’s a special kid. He’s just one of a kind, and like I tell my wife, he’s a kid that I’d want for my daughters to marry — just an all-around great kid. We’re truly going to miss him.

“He’s one of the best that’s come through West Marshall.”

West Marshall finished with 280 yards of total offense — its second-lowest output of the season. Hart had 95 yards rushing and two scores on 21 carries, while Wyatt Brown was limited to 37 yards on 13 totes.

Hart finished 13-for-28 passing for 152 yards with one interception and the touchdown pass to Geers. Beckham DeSotel caught two balls for 32 yards and Teegun Edler had one grab for 11 yards.

West Marshall couldn’t overcome a quality opponent while committing nine penalties for 75 yards, even though Underwood was whistled for 11 penalties for 80 yards.

“We got a lot of young guys out there on the field and they gained great experience playing at this level,” Hackett said. “I’m looking forward to next year and where we’ll be. We will be missing some very, very important seniors. They played a crucial role in where we are.”

Underwood will travel to face second-ranked West Lyon (10-0) in next Friday’s state quarterfinals.

Underwood 42, West Marshall 21

Score by Quarters

UND 22 0 14 6 — 42

WM 0 7 0 14 — 21

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

UND — Garrett Luett 1 run (run failed), 10:18.

UND — Charlie Myers 7 run (Luett run), 8:41.

UND — Hudson Ross 8 pass from Luett (Ryker Adair pass from Luett), :43.

Second Quarter

WM — Kinnick Geers 39 pass from Blayk Hart (Ethan Stephenson kick), 10:03.

Third Quarter

UND — Luett 5 run (Luett run), 5:02.

UND — Ross 31 pass from Luett (run failed), 1:02.

Fourth Quarter

WM — Hart 8 run (Stephenson kick), 9:35.

UND — Luett 4 run (pass failed), 1:46.

WM — Hart 2 run (Stephenson kick), :53.

TEAM STATISTICS

UND WM

First downs 31 19

Rushes-yards 40-248 36-128

Passing yards 274 152

Comp-Att-Int 19-31-1 13-28-1

Total offense 71-522 64-280

Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 11-80 9-75

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — UND: Riley Sealock 11-89, Myers 15-88, Luett 11-79, Kyle Sub 1-2, TEAM 2-(minus-10); WM: Hart 21-95, Wyatt Brown 13-37, Geers 2-(minus-4).

PASSING — UND: Luett 19-31-274-1; WM: Hart 13-28-152-1.

RECEIVING — UND: Ross 7-112, Adair 3-60, Sub 4-44, Jackson Hughes 1-21, Sealock 1-15, Landon Morales-Foote 1-11, Tayden Hull 1-8, Myers 1-3; WM: Geers 10-109, Beckham DeSotel 2-32, Teegun Edler 1-11.