But things turned sour in a hurry for the Bobcats once the second quarter got underway, and the No. 8 Urbandale J-Hawks turned up the heat to blow out the Bobcats 50-7 in the second round of the Class 4A Football Playoffs Friday night.

Marshalltown (3-5) started ready for a fight and stopped the J-Hawks on a fourth-and-goal from the Marshalltown four-yard line on the first drive of the game. The Bobcats were fired up on the sideline, but the tone changed immediately in seconds.

Marshalltown quarterback Brendan Bates dropped back to pass on the Bobcats’ first offensive play of the game and threw to his left, only for the pass to be picked off around the 10-yard line and returned for a touchdown. Urbandale was up less than five minutes into the game, despite having been stopped by the Marshalltown defense.

After the Bobcats were stopped and forced Urbandale to punt, trouble struck for the J-Hawks when the snap was fumbled and gave Marshalltown field position at the Urbandale 18. Marshalltown failed to make headway and faced a fourth-and-13 at the J-Hawks’ 21. Bates stepped back in the pocket and tossed up a pass to tight end Carson Williams, who caught the ball while falling backward into the end zone and tied the game at 7-7.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Marshalltown senior tight end Carson Williams lands on top of Urbandale defender Zach Kain (19) with a touchdown catch during Friday’s Class 4A state football playoff game in Urbandale.

After the strong first quarter, it all went wrong for the Bobcats in the second, said head coach Adam Goodvin.

“We just shot ourselves in the foot,” Goodvin said. “It was a combination of things, we made a big play to tie it up and then made a couple of mistakes. Some fumbles, bad playcalls and execution. When you combine all that together and it doesn’t go in our favor, it makes it tough. We dug ourselves our own hole all around, too big a hole and we couldn’t get back out of it.”

The Bobcats gave up 27 points in the second 12 minutes of the game, turning the ball over twice with fumbles that turned directly into Urbandale touchdowns, including an ill-fated double-reverse pass attempt that went wrong with the final play of the half. Malik Haynes also fumbled on a botched handoff, which the J-Hawks fell on in the end zone. The J-Hawks were flying, and the Bobcats were left shellshocked. All told, four of Urbandale’s seven touchdowns were scored by the defense.

Another pick-six in the third quarter and a Urbandale score pushed the lead to 47-7, and the running clock went into effect ofr the rest of the game. The J-Hawks added a field goal in the fourth quarter.

Marshalltown was led through the air by Bates’ 65 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions on 5-for-15 passing. Williams had three receptions for 53 yards and a score.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

Urbandale made life difficult on the ground for the Bobcats and Haynes could not muster a much, recording zero total yards on 14 rushing attempts. Patrick Landeros led the Bobcats in rushing with 60 yards on seven carries, much of which came on a fingle run in the middle of the fourth quarter.

The season ends for Marshalltown, and with it the high school football careers of key contributors like Haynes, Bates, Landeros, Williams, Sergio Zaragoza and more. The Bobcats lose 27 seniors in total.

Goodvin said the current crop of seniors has laid the groundwork for upcoming teams.

“I think our seniors did a good job,” Goodvin said. “They’ve been a part of what we do and what we’re trying to develop in this program, and hopefully the lower-level guys have seen that and they can learn from it and prove themselves.”

Urbandale moves on to the next round to be held Oct. 30.