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’Cats can’t claw back

MHS boys soccer season ends with 2-1 loss to Ankeny Centennial

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON • Marshalltown senior Ricky Ibarra, front, keels over with his head in his shirt after the Bobcats’ season came to an end in the substate semifinals with a loss to Ankeny Centennial, 2-1.

ANKENY — All that could stop the Marshalltown boys soccer team’s comeback against Ankeny Centennial in the Class 3A Substate 6 semifinals was a metal bar.

Trailing 2-1 with one minute left, the Bobcats were awarded a corner kick and had a chance to finally even things up for the first time since the Jaguars scored early in the third minute.

Jose Torres quickly lined up the corner and sent it, and after a mad scramble in front of the Ankeny Centennial goal Samuel Estrada found himself with the ball just outside the box with room for a shot.

Estrada reared back and fired, and everyone in the stands held their breath as the ball soared past Jaguar goalkeeper Cole Pankey’s hands, only to find the crossbar and bounce back into the field of play.

Centennial recovered the loose ball and ran out the clock in both the game and the Bobcats’ season, taking a 2-1 victory and moving on to the substate finals to face Des Moines Lincoln.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON • Marshalltown senior Tony Angel, left, makes a crossover move on Ankeny Centennial’s Sean Dennis during the second half of the Bobcats’ loss to the Jaguars in the Class 3A Substate 6 semifinals on Wednesday.

“We had opportunities, hitting the upper-90 crossbar at the last second, it’s one of those things where this game can be cruel at times,” Fuchsen said, clearly saddened with the season’s end. “It’s tough but I am proud of the guys, they left it out there, they battled, they definitely gained some respect from these metro teams.”

At halftime it didn’t even seem likely Marshalltown (9-8) would score a goal, let alone have a shot to tie things up with seconds remaining.

The Jaguars (14-3) took the lead early on a goal from Alex Keninger in the third minute off an assist from Will Overberg, then Overberg again found Kreninger for a goal in the 31’s minute to give Centennial a 2-0 advantage.

Meanwhile the Bobcats struggled to maintain any offensive momentum, going the entire first 40 minutes without a single shot against Pankey.

At halftime Marshalltown needed a spark, that’s when Fuchsen decided to mix up the lineup. He took senior Ricky Ibarra out of goal and moved him up to the front line, and he also moved senior Franky Ramirez to the midfield from his usual spot on defense.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

The shift worked almost immediately, as the two senior captains bolstered an offensive attack that allowed the third senior captain, Tony Angel, to hit paydirt in the 46th minute and reduce the Jaguar lead to just one.

“First half we struggled a lot, but in the second half we came back real hard. It was all about being focused and determined,” Angel said. “Coach told us to keep fighting and fighting and that’s all this was about, to keep fighting no matter what. The goals didn’t go in but we put up a fight.”

Ibarra has been a jack of all trades for the Bobcats this season, playing essentially anywhere Fuchsen could use his skill set, and he said moving up to the front line to help with the attack was no issue.

“Chris is a smart coach and he knows what he’s doing so when he put me up there it was for a reason,” Ibarra said. “I tried with the team to get on the attacking front, we were defending almost all of the first half. When I went up there I felt there was a change, but I give that all to my teammates. I wouldn’t be able to my job if they didn’t do their job.”

Ramirez was the only of the three thrust into a new position, as he hadn’t played anything but defense all year. Still, he knew his effort would be welcome in the midfield so he said he gave it his all.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“It was all about heart, that was it,” Ramirez said. “It was my first time playing in the middle next to the mid players since I usually play on the defense, and I just went out there with heart with everyone. I told them ‘this might be the last time we play together,’ and we went out there and played with heart, that’s all we could do.”

Fuchsen and Jaguars head coach Brian Duax have known each other from quite some time, even formerly playing on the same team together, so Fuchsen said he knew what Centennial was going to bring to the game, his guys just didn’t have an answer at first.

“[Duax] always has his teams dialed in with the intensity high and I think that was the difference,” Fuchsen said. “The first half they had it and were able to put their chances away, second half we had the momentum and the emotion we just weren’t able to convert. That’s kind of been the story of our season.”

Marshalltown ends the season at 9-8, the first winning record for the Bobcats in four years. Ibarra said it was a bit of an up and down season, going 9-3 on the road but 0-5 at home, but he enjoyed every second of it.

“It’s been a roller coaster but it was a fun one. We started great but got to the middle of the season and got down,” Ibarra said. “After those three losses [to end the year] we got to the substate and it was a new season, and once we beat Ames we proved everybody wrong and showed we could play.”

Fuchsen said Ibarra, Angel, Ramirez and the rest of the seniors on the squad set the team up for success in the future by showing the right way to play the game.

“I try to impress on them to leave it better than how you got it, in anything you do or anywhere you go,” he said. “They have been a great part of the program the last four years, it was tough going through the highs and lows but we always put ourselves in that position to win and do something special with the season, but unfortunately only a select few teams move on. Whenever you leave your heart and soul out there you can’t have any regrets, you should be able to walk off proud.”

The seniors are far from leaving the cupboard dry, however, as players like Austin Shomo, Kabba Pins, Rene Hernandez and Jose Torres are all set to step up into even bigger roles next season.

“I am sure they will do well next year, they have been playing with us a while, Shomo especially since his freshman year,” Ramirez said. “I believe in them, they are disciplined, they know what to do, they know their job.”

Add in a crop of talented freshman that went undefeated in their schedule this year and Fuchsen said the team could see some bright days ahead.

“The sophomore class this year, they were all starters last year and hopefully they are inspiring the next years, like the freshman class this year that went undefeated this season,” Fuchsen said. “There is talent there coming up so the future looks bright, I just want it to start glowing.”

Ankeny Centennial 2, Marshalltown 1

At Ankeny

MHS 0 1 — 1

A. CENTENNIAL 2 0 — 2

First half

AC — Alex Keninger (Will Overberg), 2:18.

AC — Keninger (Overberg), 30:29.

Second half

MHS — Tony Angel (Ricky Ibarra), 45:27.

Goalkeepers — MHS: Ibarra (4 saves, 6 shots on goal), Jesus Muñoz (5-5); AC: Cole Pankey (4-2).

Shots — MHS 8, AC 17.

Shots on goal — MHS 4, AC 11.

Corner kicks — MHS 2, AC 2.

Yellow cards — Ricky Ibarra, MHS, 59:45.

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