A much-needed win came Marshalltown’s way Friday night as the Bobcats put away Waterloo East 31-6 on the same night the founders of the Marshalltown Football League and Marshalltown Wrestling Club were honored.

The Bobcats (1-1) took the lead on the first drive of the game with a touchdown pass from Dalen Huston to Nick Rebik from 10 yards out to open the scoring. After taking the 7-0 lead the Bobcats never trailed, and head coach Adam Goodvin hailed it as a solid team effort.

“It was a total team effort, it took everybody playing football on both sides of the ball,” Goodvin said. “When you’ve got the effort the way that they had tonight with the toughness and how hard they hit and moved around and communicated, that gives you a really good chance to win football games.”

The Bobcats’ next drive ended with a fourth-down failure, but they got the ball back soon enough thanks to Ace Holmes recovering a fumble, the first of two turnovers forced by Holmes Friday night. One quarter through and the Bobcats held a 7-0 lead but it could have been more, as Huston fumbled away the ball inside the Trojans’ 10 yard line.

Early in the second quarter the lead doubled with Huston finding Jackson Bowie from 11 yards out. Huston threw for 106 yards and two touchdowns, tossing one interception as well.

A Waterloo East drive into Marshalltown territory was stopped on fourth down, but on the next Marshalltown drive Johan Gomez’s punt was blocked, setting the Trojans up with excellent field position. Two plays later the Trojans scored, cutting the lead to 14-6.

Rebik set up the Bobcats well for an immediate response with a 55-yard kick return down to the Trojan 26. Huston scored a few plays later, and thanks to a Treshaun Brooks interception the Bobcats held a 21-6 lead at the halftime break.

Goodvin said the Bobcats left points on the field on offense but were picked up at times by strong play from the defense.

“I felt like we left some points on the board that maybe we should have gotten,” Goodvin said. “We kinda got some help defensively as well. It was a bend but don’t break type of football game, they got behind us a couple times — they have some athletic kids, credit to them.”

With the Trojans in scoring position midway through the third quarter, Seth Smith forced a fumble, recovered it himself and ran to the Waterloo East 48 to take pressure off of Marshalltown’s defense. Four plays later, Huston scored his second rushing touchdown of the night. He carried the ball 10 times for a game-high 60 yards, closely followed by Rebik with 58 yards on 14 carries and Tate Riang with 36 yards in nine carries.

Heading into the fourth with a three-score advantage, the Bobcats tried to control the game and get to the finish line as quickly as possible. A 40-yard field goal from Gomez put the score up to 31-6, and late interceptions from Holmes and Caleb Kusserow put a halt to any hope of a Waterloo East comeback. Marshalltown’s defense forced five turnovers on the night.

Up next for the Bobcats is a home game against Newton, with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. Last season the Cardinals beat Marshalltown 42-7 last season in what Goodvin called the Bobcats’ worst performance of the year.

Marshalltown 31, Waterloo East 6

Score by Quarter

W. EAST 0 6 0 0 — 6

MHS 7 14 7 3 — 31

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

MHS — Nick Rebik 10 pass from Dalen Huston (Johan Gomez kick), 9:54.

Second Quarter

MHS — Jackson Bowie 11 pass from Huston (Gomez kick), 8:24.

WE — Shakur Wright 3 run (kick failed), 2:55.

MHS — Huston 2 run (Gomez kick), 1:44.

Third Quarter

MHS — Huston 8 run (Gomez kick), 2:14.

Fourth Quarter

MHS — FG Gomez 40, 4:38.

TEAM STATISTICS

W.EAST MHS

First downs 9 14

Rushes-yards 24-21 40-117

Passing yards 128 106

Comp-Att-Int 12-36-3 11-17-1

Total Offense 60-149 57-223

Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-1

Penalties-yards 3-25 5-29

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — W.East: Landen Sewell 12-9, Shakur Wright 9-8, Davarrion Clark 1-8, William Clark III 2-(minus-4); MHS: Dalen Huston 10-60, Nick Rebik 14-58, Tate Riang 9-36, Sam Greazel 3-13, Seth Smith 1-9, Ace Holmes 2-2, Team 1-(minus-1).

PASSING — W.East: Sewell 12-36-128-3; MHS: Huston 11-17-106-1.

RECEIVING — W.East: Jameel Montgomery 3-38, Quentin Hart 2-32, Ahdan Muhammad 3-23, Davarrion Clark 2-22, Jah’Khi Parker 1-13, Tariq Moore 1-10; MHS: Ace Holmes 3-29, Treshaun Brooks 2-21, Cory Smith 2-18, Seth Smith 1-18, Jackson Bowie 1-11, Nick Rebik 2-9.