Dalen Huston

DES MOINES — Back-to-back wins aren’t easy to come by — and the Marshalltown football team completed a second-half comeback Friday night against Des Moines Roosevelt to prove just how difficult it can be.

The Bobcats trailed 20-8 at halftime but scored a touchdown with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, then used a Brayden Weatherly interception to help seal a 30-26 win over the Roughriders inside Drake Stadium. Marshalltown is now 3-4 on the season.

Starting the game with a long drive that culminated in a 24-yard jaunt to the end zone from quarterback Dalen Huston, the Bobcats went for two and got it, establishing an early advantage. Just two minutes later however, the Roughriders cut into the lead with a catch by Peter Phanthoudeth. Their two-point attempt missed the mark and so the Bobcats held on to a slim lead, but a fumble on the very next possession gave Roosevelt great field position — and the hosts capitalized.

The last play of the first was a 12-yard TD run for Max Masucci to take a 12-8 lead. Adding another score in the final two minutes of the first half to take a 20-8 advantage into the break, Roosevelt had all the momentum.

Bobcats head coach Adam Goodvin said he didn’t give a big speech at the break and added how proud he was of his seniors for stepping up.

“I didn’t have to say a whole lot,” Goodvin said. “I was on the iPad watching what adjustments we needed to make but at the same time, I’m listening to a lot of our seniors pick everyone else up.

“I told them to leave everything out there, don’t take anything for granted. What a night, very proud of everybody.”

Huston then ran in a 16-yard touchdown four minutes into the second half, gutting the gap to five points. Huston ran 13 times for 114 yards and all four Bobcat touchdowns, while Ace Holmes carried the ball 12 times for 88 yards. As a team, MHS ran the ball 42 times for 254 yards, gashing the Roosevelt defense often in the second half.

Marshalltown took the lead late in the quarter on a 4-yard run from Huston, going up 23-20. But early in the fourth, Zion Spellman broke tackles in the MHS secondary on his way to a 29-yard score.

Driving down the field and taking the lead off of another Huston run, the Bobcats now had a 30-26 lead to protect and five minutes to do it.

As Roosevelt reached the red zone, it was Weatherly who made the key play. Rushed out of the pocket, quarterback Dominic Wade’s pass was picked off by the senior. Huston ran for a first down to seal the win and push the Bobcats within one game of .500.

Up next for MHS is a Thursday night road trip to face Cedar Rapids Jefferson, with kickoff at 7 p.m. inside Kingston Stadium.

Marshalltown 30, Des Moines Roosevelt 26

Score by Quarters

MHS 8 0 15 7 — 30

DMR 12 8 0 6 — 26

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

MHS — Dalen Huston 24 run (Treshaun Brooks pass from Huston), 6:12.

DMR — Peter Phanthoudeth 15 pass from Dominic Wade (kick failed), 4:09.

DMR — Max Masucci 12 run (pass failed), :06.

Second Quarter

DMR — Wade 2 run (Jayden Davison run), 1:36.

Third Quarter

MHS — Huston 16 run (Johan Gomez kick), 8:13.

MHS — Huston 4 run (Brooks pass from Huston), 2:03.

Fourth Quarter

DMR — Zion Spellman 29 pass from Wade (pass failed), 11:38.

MHS — Huston 3 run (Gomez kick), 5:04.

TEAM STATISTICS

MHS DMR

First downs 16 12

Rushes-yards 42-254 25-70

Passing yards 51 178

Comp-Att-Int 6-12-0 12-22-1

Total offense 54-305 47-248

Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0

Penalties-yards 7-73 6-40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — MHS: Huston 14-113, Allah Holmes 12-88, Tate Riang 8-29, Malachi Holmes 2-26, Jayzek Lee 1-4, Nick Rebik 1-3, Team 4-(minus-9); DMR: Davison 14-44, Wade 5-21, Masucci 5-21, George Williams 1-(minus-1), Phanthoudeth 2-(minus-2).

PASSING — MHS: Huston 6-11-51-0, Xayvion Anderson 0-1-0-0; DMR: Wade 12-22-178-1.

RECEIVING — MHS: Riang 1-18, Caleb Kusserow 1-17, Brooks 2-11, Lee 1-1, Cory Smith 1-0; DMR: Williams 3-60, Phanthoudeth 3-59, Spellman 2-34, Danny Diggins 3-19, Davison 1-6.