Two seasons ago, Ernesto Tellez made one of the biggest saves in Marshalltown High School boys’ soccer history.

Tonight in Newton, he finally returns to net for the Bobcats.

After a highly anticipated 2020 spring soccer season was wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic, the Marshalltown boys squad gets back onto the pitch for the first time since the 2019 state tournament. The Bobcats went 16-3 after a first-round exit in the Class 3A bracket, but had loads of talent returning for a 2020 campaign that was eventually canceled by COVID-19.

Leaving the past behind them may be the only way this year’s Bobcat contingent can get back to state. The first step in the process, however, is tonight’s 7 p.m. season opener at Newton.

“I feel like [last year] is a little harder to erase sometimes because we had a good group of seniors last year, so we feel like we could have gone (to state) again,” said MHS senior Javier Rodriguez, who was one of four sophomores to see the pitch two seasons ago. “But you’ve got to move on and focus on this year now because we can’t go back and change it.”

Marshalltown’s magical run to its first state tournament berth in 18 years was unforgettable, though. The Bobcats beat Southeast Polk on May 25, 2019, in a widely publicized substate championship match that featured an unprecedented removal of fans from the stands and an eight-round shootout to decide it all.

Tellez, who had only seen 104 of the team’s 1,262 minutes in goal prior to the shootout, made a diving save in place of starting goalkeeper Jesus Munoz to send the Bobcats to state after a contentious finish to the substate final.

Marshalltown returned 39 of its 51 goals for last year’s potential juggernaut, but it was all for nought after the spring season was knocked out by the pandemic.

“There’s always that feeling of ‘what if’ last year,” said MHS senior Cesar Macias. “What if we would have went to the championship? But we have our own goals this year and we’re focusing on what’s next.”

That’s the best way to go about it, head coach Scott Johannes says, because thinking back to the past may be too painful. April 18, 2020, is the day Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced the statewide closure of all schools and the cancellation of spring sports.

“It was horrible,” he recalls. “I was always eternally hopeful that [the spring sports season] was going to happen, and I just remember that Friday that the decision was made. I sat around and didn’t know what to do. I remember thinking ‘this is real.’

“Last year we had high hopes, that group of seniors last year were just phenomenal. I would’ve loved to have played this group of seniors with them, but it is what it is. The reality is that was an opportunity that’s gone. As spring sports get started this year it does bring a lot of expectations from last year because this was the only season that was missed.”

Marshalltown will do its part to avoid missing any games this spring, starting with tonight’s trip to Newton. COVID protocols remain in place for when players are on the sidelines, but masks on the soccer field will not be required.

The Bobcats’ 23-player contingent consists of mostly seniors. There are five juniors and only one sophomore listed as of tonight’s season debut. Seventeen seniors will be asked to emerge as leaders after missing their junior year of soccer and most of them not playing varsity as sophomores.

Seniors Noah Hermanson, Rodriguez and Tellez are the only returning members of Marshalltown’s state tournament team from two years ago, but they represent much of the back line of the Bobcats’ defense.

They were also members of the last MHS freshman team coached by Johannes three years ago that went undefeated.

“We’ve got a pretty good team, good players, but we’ve just got to learn how to play together better,” said Tellez, who will start in goal tonight. “It feels the same because it’s the same team as when we were freshmen so there’s that chemistry still there.

“It’s our last year so we’ve got to go all-out.”