COOS BAY - Marshfield’s football team didn’t get all the agonizing losses out of its system in the preseason.

After two particularly frustrating defeats earlier this fall, the Pirates lost another heartbreaker Friday night, falling to Churchill 14-13 in the Midwestern League opener at Pete Susick Stadium.

The game was decided on two key plays -  a missed extra point after Marshfield’s second touchdown, something that haunted the Pirates in a one-point loss at Ashland last week, and a phenomenal defensive play by Churchill’s Justin Hoffman in the final minute.

The Pirates were driving for a potential winning score when quarterback Brogan Oswald lofted the ball toward the end zone for Alexz Elletson, his favorite target.

Elletson and Hoffman, who was playing behind him, both jumped for the ball and both had their hands around it when they fell to the turf in the end zone, where Hoffman pulled it away for a game-clinching interception.

“I thought they were going to do some type of corner pass,” a jubilant Hoffman said after the game. “I just pulled it out of his hands.”

Oswald gave credit to Hoffman.

“Alexz Elletson is the go-to man,” he said. “The kid just made a good play on a great receiver.”

The bottom line was that the defending league champions improved to 1-0 while Marshfield will have to fight its way into the playoffs after an 0-1 start for the second straight season. Churchill edged the Pirates in Eugene in the league opener last year and Marshfield ended up finishing second.

Marshfield had similarly tough losses to Ashland, where the Pirates missed two extra points and a field goal, and Marist, where the Spartans had two scores in the final minute after Marshfield had taken a seven-point lead.

“It is hard because we’re a pretty good football team,” Marshfield coach Kent Wigle said. “We just keep finding ways to lose instead of ways to win.”

And it wasn’t just the two notable plays Friday.

“When you lose 14-13, there’s probably 15 kids that can say, ‘Had I made this one play, we would have won,’” Wigle said.

Marshfield also had a defender drop a potential interception that was thrown into his hands, missed a few potential plays on defense and suffered a costly fumble on a punt when two Pirates went for the ball at the same time, ultimately leading to Churchill’s first score after Marshfield had stopped the Lancers deep in their own territory.

“The fumble on the punt was huge,” Wigle said.

The game was a defensive slugfest more than an offensive showcase, which Wigle had expected.

The first three drives for each team ended in quick punts, though Churchill’s third punt led to the pivotal fumble.

The Lancers capitalized when Eric Knapp darted around the left end and dove into the end zone for a 5-yard touchdown with 8:57 remaining in the first half.

Kyle Brown returned the ensuing kickoff 57 yards for the Pirates, but Marshfield couldn’t capitalize, the drive stalling when Oswald was stopped short of a first down on a fourth-down scramble.

The Pirates got the ball right back when Will Fuller sacked Churchill quarterback Morgan Ostrander on first down and Will Messerle forced a fumble while tackling Hank Turner for a loss the next play.

The Pirates recovered the fumble and Jesse Fox scored on a 5-yard run several plays later. Kyle Tedder’s conversion kick evened the score.

The Lancers followed with their best drive of the game, which included back-to-back passes from Ostrander to Knapp and Blake Determan for 55 yards. Ostrander hit Hoffman with a 15-yard scoring pass on a fade route with 45 seconds remaining in the half to give the Lancers a 14-7 lead at the break.

Marshfield forced punts on every Churchill possession in the second half, except the final one to run out the clock after Hoffman’s interception, and the Pirates scored on a 61-yard drive that bridged the final two quarters.

Oswald had big completions to Jordan Shepherd and John Parrish on the drive and also gained 22 yards on quarterback keepers. Fox bulled across the line from 2 yards out with 8:50 remaining.

Tedder’s extra-point kick sailed wide right, though, and after Marshfield forced a punt, the Pirates’ final drive ended in Hoffman’s interception. It was his second pick of the game, his first also coming in the end zone on a long pass on the final play of the opening half.

He said the win was huge for the Lancers.

“Every year, Marshfield has a strong program,” he said. “We’re excited to get this one out of the way.”

The Pirates, meanwhile, will try to look forward knowing they have little room for error starting this Friday with a game at Willamette, which suffered its first loss of the season at the hands of Springfield on Friday.

“We’ve just got to look forward to next week,” Oswald said. “Nobody wants to start the season 0-1. It happens. You’ve just got to push forward.”

Overshadowed by the final score was the outstanding effort by the defense, which limited the Lancers to 42 rushing yards and 186 yards of total offense.

“Our defense stepped it up the whole game,” Oswald said.

Marshfield rushed for 133 yards, including 72 by Oswald and 44 by Fox. Oswald passed for 71 yards, completing 7 of 18 attempts, with Elletson, Parrish and Cameron Winfrey catching two balls each.

Wigle said the Pirates will look ahead to the Willamette game knowing they are close to getting big victories.

“It’s hard,” he said. “We’ve worked hard. We’re getting better. We haven’t got a lot of paybacks for it.”