That wasn’t the case in the second half of this 4A District 2 matchup, as the Jaguars marched up and down the field while the Bobcats stagnated and sputtered, leading to a 49-7 win for Centennial and the worst loss of the season for MHS.

Marshalltown head coach Adam Goodvin said his team just couldn’t keep from hurting themselves on Friday night at Ankeny Stadium.

“I think it comes down to we made a lot of mistakes,” he said. “Very proud of the effort, the guys played hard and they played hard all night. That’s a very physical football team, we had guys in the right spot a lot but we didn’t wrap up and make the right plays. That’s the next step and that’s what it takes to finish plays.”

After the Bobcats (3-2, 0-1) were forced to punt on the opening possession, the Jaguars (5-0, 1-0) took just three plays to find the end zone, with a 43-yard run by Gabe Godwin setting up a 2-yard rush for Avery Gates.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - Marshalltown defensive lineman Francisco Ordaz, right, puts a hit on Ankeny Centennial’s Keaton Gray in the backfield during the Bobcats’ loss to the Class 4A No. 3 Jaguars on Friday.

Marshalltown went to work when it next received the ball, going on a nearly nine-minute drive that ate up the rest of the first quarter. With the first play of the second quarter, quarterback Jacob Smith found receiver Jonathan Hernandez wide open on a six-yard touchdown pass to tie the game up at 7-7 with 11:54 remaining before halftime.

That was the last bit of good news for MHS, as Centennial went on to score 49 straight points, including 21 more before halftime.

Big plays were the crux of the issues for the Bobcat defense, as Gates sprinted for an 87-yard touchdown run after the Jaguars had been pinned deep off a Giorgio DiIorio punt, and Garret Severseike found Ben Breeding for a 47-yard touchdown pass for long touchdowns in the second quarter.

Those long plays continued in the third when Severseike hit Blake Murphy for a 32-yard touchdown score, and Goodvin said those big plays can’t continue to happen against his squad.

“We’ve got to eliminate those big plays, if we can eliminate those and force them to make some mistakes that gives us a chance,” he said.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

At halftime, even down 28-7, the Bobcats had more first downs than the Jaguars and they had gained 99 yards rushing while dominating the time of possession. Goodvin said they felt good during the halftime talks, it just didn’t manifest in the second half.

“Our mentality stays the same, you have to go out there with confidence and you expect to win,” he said. “It was a three score game but that doesn’t mean we were out of it, so we stayed confident and wanted to come out and play a little more physical.”

After running 34 total plays in the first half, Marshalltown only had 13 offensive plays in the second and gained just one first down on a 43-yard run by DiIorio, who was the leading rusher at 88 yards on 15 carries.

It was clear Centennial wanted to load the box against the MHS running attack, which still managed to gain 154 yards in the loss, and Goodvin said there was still some good things that happened on the ground.

“They know we like to run the football, it’s no secret,” he said. “I am very proud of the plays we did execute and we had a few good ones. We will go back and look at tape and learn from it, keep our heads down and go to work next Monday.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

When other teams are doing everything they can to stop the run like they have in the last two losses for the Bobcats, the passing game has to step up and take some of that pressure off the running game. Unfortunately for the MHS faithful this was the worst passing night of the season for Smith, as he went 3-for-11 with 20 yards, a touchdown and a drive-killing interception was a potential 14-point swing in the second quarter.

“You have to give credit to the defensive backs from Ankeny, they did an outstanding job of covering a lot of our patterns,” Goodvin said. “We are going to have to get our guys a little bit better, Jacob has to make some better decisions and he knows that. I have all the confidence in the world in those guys throwing the football.”

Centennial showed just why they are considered a dangerous rushing team throughout the night, ripping off huge runs on the way to 357 total rushing yards on 36 carries as a team. Godwin was the leading Jaguar rusher with 125 yards on 13 carries, followed by Gates who had 119 yards on just four touches.

Goodvin said facing a team the caliber of Centennial will ultimately make his squad better.

“This was a very physical football game and it was good for our guys to be a part of,” he said. “They are No. 3 in the state for a reason and part of that is their toughness and physicality. If we take something away from that and bring that to our remaining games we will be OK.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Ankeny Centennial 49, Marshalltown 7

At Ankeny

MHS 0 7 0 0 — 7

AC 7 21 14 7 — 49

First Quarter

AC — Avery Gates 3 run (Avery Knief kick), 8:31.

Second Quarter

MHS — Jonathan Hernandez 6 pass from Jacob Smith (Kabba Pins kick), 11:54.

AC — Gabe Godwin 1 run (Knief kick), 7:33.

AC — Gates 87 run (Knief kick), 5:34.

AC — Ben Breeding 47 pass from Garret Severseike (Knief kick), 2:23.

Third Quarter

AC — Blake Murphy 32 pass from Garret Severseike (Knief kick), 8:27.

AC — Keaton Gray 1 run (Knief kick), 3:12.

Fourth Quarter

AC — Gray 15 run (Knief kick), 10:00.

TEAM STATISTICS

MHS AC

First downs 8 14

Rushes-yards 36-154 36-357

Passing yards 20 110

Comp-Att-Int 3-11-1 5-8-0

Total offense 47-174 44-467

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-0

Penalties-yards 4-40 6-55

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — MHS: Giorgio DiIorio 15-88, Hernandez 4-25, Derrick Garth 9-17, Carson Beals 3-12, Smith 3-6, Patrick Landeros 2-6; AC: Godwin 13-125, Gates 4-119, Anthony Nehring 4-28, Gray 4-24, Mark Loiola 2-16, Tyler Cahill 3-12, Severseike 3-12, Kollin Luce 2-9, Nathan Reinke 1-9, Dawson Trebon 1-3.

PASSING — MHS: Smith 3-11-20-1; AC: 5-8-110-0.

RECEIVING — MHS: Hernandez 2-14, Eygabroad 1-6; AC: Breeding 2-61, Murphy 1-32, Dylan DeAngelo 2-17.

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