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Bobcats take ‘Marshalltown Strong’ onto the gridiron

T-R GRAPHIC

In the last two months since an EF-3 tornado ripped through downtown Marshalltown there’s been a popular phrase surrounding the recovery efforts: Marshalltown Strong.

The phrase can be seen everywhere in the city, on street signs, t-shirts, social media accounts, and the phrase also applies to the first three weeks of the Marshalltown High School football season.

Head coach Adam Goodvin — who’s Bobcats debuted in The Associated Press Iowa high school football rankings at No. 10 this week — said his team is proud that they’ve been able to epitomize Marshalltown Strong during their first 3-0 start to a season since 2011, and their strength comes from the strength of the people who populate this city.

“I think it’s a part of this entire community. People in this community are hardworking people and it’s awesome to be a part of,” Goodvin said.

Two things come to mind when thinking about strength on the football field: a good running game and a tough-nosed defense.

The Bobcats have both of those in spades, as they are the No. 3 rushing attack in 4A at 957 total yards on the ground through three games, and they have allowed just 15 points per game so far, which ranks 10th in the class.

“It’s all about being strong as a unit, both sides of the football and special teams, it all works together,” Goodvin said.

Though the guys have experienced so much success so far, already surpassing last year’s point total with 131 total points scored in three games, Goodvin said they aren’t taking what has made them successful for granted.

“Everyone on this team, all these kids, they are working hard in practice and it’s fun to watch their progress,” Goodvin said. “They are very aware of the mistakes we made on Friday night and they are out here trying to fix those. It makes my job easy and they really want to keep winning. They keep working and hopefully we can keep this thing moving along.”

Marshalltown is coming off a 45-13 rout of Mason City last week, the largest win of the season so far, but as Goodvin said there were areas the Bobcats struggled. For the first time all season they didn’t score on their opening drive, and with 11 minutes to go in the second quarter they trailed the Mohawks 13-0.

Heading into a matchup against long-time rival Ames this week, Goodvin said his guys have to get out to a better start both offensively and defensively.

“This is a group that has a lot of energy to them,” he said. “They are full of energy and we have to use that to our advantage the entire game. We’ve got to come out and set the tone and use that energy.”

Another area of concern from the Mason City game was the MHS turnovers, as it had three fumbles lost stemming from a problem on the exchange between quarterback Jacob Smith and center Kyle Griego.

Goodvin said Smith and Griego took it upon themselves this week to make sure that won’t be an issue moving forward.

“I didn’t even have to tell Jacob, he was out here before and after practice taking 50 extra snaps with Kyle,” Goodvin said. “He knows, he’s a smart kid, they have to limit that and hopefully not let that happen again. They have taken matters into their own hands and it’s awesome.”

The third area the Bobcats struggled last week was on special teams, mainly because special teams standout Kabba Pins, who did the punting and field goal work, has been sidelined with a knee injury.

Goodvin said that happened relatively late in practice last week and left the team scrambling to find a replacement, but that won’t be the case this week.

“It’s a little different, it puts guys in situations where they weren’t used to,” he said. “It was brand new to them going into last week but we’ve had almost a full week of practice to get those new guys in. We feel confident in the work that they’ve done and hopefully they do a good job Friday night.”

For the time being senior Giorgio DiIorio — who is eighth in rushing in 4A with 390 yards — will handle the punting and field goal duties.

When the Bobcats and Little Cyclones meet up on Friday in Ames, it will be a war of opposing philosophies.

Where Marshalltown relies on the rush to carry the load offensively, Goodvin said Ames likes to air it out a bit more.

“They like to throw the football around, they have a very talented athlete and quarterback and he can do some special things with the football,” he said. “They’ve got some good size on the outside, they will look to get those two guys the ball as much as possible and we have to be very disciplined secondary-wise and hopefully shut it down and put some pressure on [Little Cyclone quarterback Cooper Downs].”

Downs comes into week four with 751 total yards and five touchdowns on 65-of-113 passing. His two top targets are Jonah Strawhacker and Tamin Lipsey, who have 184 and 164 yards receiving respectively while Lipsey has reached the end zone three times.

In the last two weeks the Bobcats have seen mainly rushing teams, though when called upon to defend the past they’ve done well.

“It all starts with the defensive line getting pressure and forcing Downs to make some uncomfortable throws,” Goodvin said. “We have to be very disciplined in the secondary and read our reads correctly. They will throw some funky formations out there and do some funky things but they feel comfortable with it and we have to be ready to stop it.”

The Little Cyclones have five receivers that have over 100 yards on the year, but Marshalltown has options of its own.

Four Bobcats have eclipsed 100 yards rushing over the first three games, with DiIorio leading the way followed by Derrick Garth — who is second in 4A with seven rushing touchdowns — Carson Beals and Jonathan Hernandez.

Hernandez joined that group last week with two huge touchdown runs, one for 30 yards and one for 71, and Goodvin said he loves how many different options he has in the backfield.

“There’s something that all of those backs have shown us,” Goodvin said. “We can pound the ball with Derrick and he is going to put his head down and run hard. Carson same thing, he has great vision at fullback which is awesome, he can see the hole and hit it and follow those offensive linemen who are working their tails off. Then Giorgio, he has been making outstanding cuts right behind Francisco [Ordaz] and Keaton [Baccam], and then we can hand it off to Hernandez and he can run around guys. They’re fun to watch and it’s fun to work with.”

Last week the offensive line struggled early on against the odd defensive front that Mason City uses, but Goodvin said things will be back to normal against Ames.

“It’s a typical front, they will do some different shades and fronts against us but I think our guys just like most teams feel more comfortable going against a four-man front than a three because it’s more common,” he said. “They’ve got some talent on that defensive line, their linebackers have speed, we are going to have to be disciplined and do our job. All 11 guys are going to have to do their job 100 percent, block their guys, make the right cuts and make the right reads and throw the ball effectively, then we will be OK.”

It’s been five years since Marshalltown came out on top against the Little Cyclones, and in the 107 year history of the series Ames owns a 64-34-4 record against the Bobcats. Even with the history of this rivalry looming over them, Goodvin said the guys are approaching this as any other week.

“Not a whole lot changes, we are going about it one week at a time. This week is Ames week and we’ve got a very big contest on Friday and we are looking to get our fourth victory,” Goodvin said. “This is week four, this is the week where we’ve really got to step up our game. A third of the season is done, we really want to see improvements on both sides of the football. It is Ames week, but it’s another week, another opportunity to go out there and compete and play the game of football and hopefully come out with a victory.”

Marshalltown and Ames will meet for the 103rd overall time on Friday night in Ames, starting at 7 p.m.

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