The Bobcats had won each of their last eight games while the Scarlets were losers of their last four, and both of those streaks would continue as MHS outlasted East for a 2-0 victory.

Marshalltown head boys soccer coach Scott Johannes said the Scarlets definitely didn’t make his squad’s ninth-straight win an easy one, but the boys pulled it out anyway.

“They kept their composure for the most part throughout,” Johannes said. “We tried to not relax too much after Valley because we knew this was going to be a very, very tough battle. You look at their record, they’re 5-9 but they have lost too many close ones.”

As the Bobcats (9-1) have done essentially throughout the current win streak, they struck first with a goal from Brandon Ordaz Sanchez in the fourth minute off an assist from Ronaldo Ordaz.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - Marshalltown wing Jose Torres (7) attempts to get a shot past Des Moines East defender Leo Acosta during the first half of the Bobcats’ 2-0 victory over the Scarlets on Friday at Leonard Cole Field.

“That was huge, we always want to score early and that just set that precedent,” Johannes said. “It helped us spread the love, Jose is usually breaking that mark but it was nice to see somebody else do it. We road that goal way too long and we were never satisfied with that, we knew beating this team 1-0 was going to be tough.”

Ordaz Sanchez said he had a little extra motivation coming from the stands as well.

“It felt good, especially having all these fans out here,” he said. “We never have all these fans out here, so I think that helped a lot.”

The next goal for MHS wouldn’t come until 74 minutes later, when Rene Hernandez finally broke the seal with a goal in the 78th minute to essentially bury the dagger in any Scarlet comeback chance.

After Hernandez struck, he let out a big yell and was swarmed by his teammates.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“I think it was one of those situations where we said, ‘OK, we can breathe now,'” Johannes said. “It was a collective exhale, there were too many things that were just too close. We had some great shots all night, all around the net, but we couldn’t get it to go into the goal. To finally get another to go through, it was just a sigh of relief. It wasn’t really a nail in the coffin, but it was close.”

Ordaz Sanchez was the first teammate to greet Hernandez after the game-sealing goal.

“It felt amazing with the fans as well. We had everybody screaming, it was an enjoyable moment,” he said.

It wasn’t for lack of trying that Marshalltown wasn’t able to score at will against Des Moines East. The Bobcats outshot the Scarlets 23-6 and 10-5 on goal, but a very physical defense kept MHS off the board.

Still, Marshalltown found its opportunities and took advantage of them and Ordaz Sanchez, who led all scorers with eight shots, said his team pulled out the win because they wanted it more.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“In soccer it’s not the better team that wins, it’s the team with the most heart,” he said. “I think that we had the most heart tonight, and I told my teammates that too.”

As for how the boys handled the physicality, Johannes said there were some chippy moments but overall his Bobcats did what was necessary to win.

“There were several questionable calls or no calls, and there was some holding going on and some grabs but that’s soccer and you have to learn to play with it and not let it get in your head,” he said. “It was close all night long and we just tried to bounce back and keep it going.”

On the other side of the pitch, the Scarlets didn’t have many scoring chances but when they did put up a shot Marshalltown goalkeeper Jesus Munoz took care of it with ease, finishing with five saves.

After such a tough, physical battle the Bobcats are rewarded by having a game less than 12 hours after the end of the Des Moines East match. MHS attempts to defend its title in the Nevada Tournament today, starting at 8 a.m. with a clash against 2A No. 6 Gilbert at the S.C.O.R.E Recreation Athletic Complex.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

“The nice thing about that is we can’t think about this win much,” Johannes said. “We have literally hours before we are on the bus heading west with that nice 8 a.m. kickoff. That’s it, we have to focus right there and just get right back into it.”

Marshalltown 2, Des Moines East 0

At Marshalltown

First Half

MHS — Brandon Ordaz Sanchez (Ronaldo Ordaz), 3:47.

Second Half

MHS — Rene Hernandez (Ordaz), 77:54.

Goalkeepers — DME: Ashton Raygoza (8 shots on goal-6 saves), Alejandro Camacho (3-3); MHS: Jesus Munoz (5-5).

Shots — DME 6, MHS 23.

Shots on Goal — DME 5, MHS 10.

Corner Kicks — DME 0, MHS 5.

Yellow Cards — Fernando Meza-Roja, DME, 56:22; Jose Torres, MHS, 56:22.

2019 Nevada Boys Soccer Invitational

Saturday

At Nevada

Quarterfinals

At Nevada High School

Game 1 — Nevada vs. Des Moines Hoover, 8 a.m.

Game 2 — Perry vs. Kuemper Catholic, 9:30 a.m.

At S.C.O.R.E. Complex

Game 3 — Marshalltown vs. Gilbert, 8 a.m.

Game 4 — Greene County vs. Iowa City Regina, 9:30 a.m.

Consolation Semifinals

Game 5 — Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 11 a.m. (NHS)

Game 6 — Game 3 loser vs. Game 4 loser, 11 a.m. (SCORE)

Championship Semifinals

Game 7 — Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 12:30 p.m. (NHS)

Game 8 — Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 12:30 p.m. (SCORE)

Finals

Seventh Place — Game 5 loser vs. Game 6 losser, 2 p.m. (SCORE)

Fifth Place — Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 2 p.m. (NHS)

Third Place — Game 7 loser vs. Game 8 loser, 3:30 p.m. (SCORE)

Championship — Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 3:30 p.m. (NHS)

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