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IT’S GOOD! Torres field goal in overtime lifts MHS to Homecoming win

By Ross Thede 7 min read

By ROSS THEDE

TIMES-REPUBLICAN

Almost exacly one year to the date, the Marshalltown football team got in the win column again.

Oh, what a feeling.

The Bobcats rushed the field in jubilation as Antoni Rodriguez Torres made his first career field goal attempt, a 28-yarder to close out overtime and lift Marshalltown over Des Moines East 17-14 in Friday night's Homecoming game at Leonard Cole Field.

The Bobcats (1-3) broke an eight-game losing skid in the process, including five-straight defeats to end last season after a 29-27 win over the Scarlets on their Homecoming night, Sept. 19, 2025, at Duke Williams Stadium in Des Moines.

Torres, who was 2-for-2 on his first two extra-point kicks in the first quarter, split the uprights to send the MHS faithful into a frenzy.

"It's awesome," said MHS head coach Adam Goodvin. "Football is such a hard game. You're only guaranteed nine of them and it seems like everyone nowadays is really competitive. It's the ultimate team sport, and I just think our kids earned it.

"You get what you earn and we've been through a lot of adversity here at the beginning of the season and the kids kept working and -- even though we tried to shoot ourselves in the foot a million times tonight -- they kept fighting and that's all you can ask out of them."

The victory marked Marshalltown's first overtime game and win since beating Newton 24-21 on Sept. 4, 2015, on a 27-yard field goal by Kyler Ladehoff. Those Bobcats got an interception by Sam Rogers to clinch that win in Newton, but Marshalltown's defense had already delivered in Friday's triumph.

The Bobcats won the overtime coin toss and deferred possession to the Scarlets, and the strategy paid off. Marshalltown's shift to a five-man defensive worked, stopping East on consecutive run attempts before thwarting the Scarlets' third-down pass. East quarterback Marquise Pierce dumped the ball off to tight end Hunter Ries, who was tackled immediately by linebacker Quinn McLeod for no gain.

The Scarlets settled for a 23-yard field goal attempt, but a delay of game penalty pushed them back five yards. On the second try, Jordan Lee's snap was over the head of holder James Hunter, and placekicker Leonel Camarena-Cruz was unsuccessful trying to scramble past the Bobcat defense.

Marshalltown's offensive possession was as precarious as the rest, cluttered with penalty flags and mental miscues. An 11-yard end run by Tyler Englund eventually got the Bobcats back to the 10-yard-line, the scene was set for Torres's heroics.

Garrett Thede's snap was on the mark to holder Deegan Grant, and he put the ball down for Torres to kick the Bobcats to their first Homecoming victory since 2022.

"So proud of him," Goodvin said of Torres, a senior soccer player who joined the football program in August. "Most high school kickers would feel a ton of pressure in that situation, but he stepped right in and drilled it like he'd done it before. It was awesome."

East's failed field-goal attempt wasn't its first. The Scarlets got the ball back after rallying from a 14-0 deficit to tie the game with 7:18 left in regulation. After getting the ball back on a Bobcat fumble, East drove to the Marshalltown 12-yard-line before lining up for a kick. Another bad snap pulled the holder out of his stance, and Camarena-Cruz was chased out of bounds for a 3-yard loss.

Marshalltown's offense couldn't get it done in regulation, instead committing five penalties on its ensuing drive, and East got the ball back with 52 seconds left. A late interception by Levi Bell at midfield kept the Scarlets from completing the comeback.

"Our kids bent but they didn't break," Goodvin said. "I thought our defensive backs played their best game of the year. I thought our linebackers did a good job of getting our defensive line set, and I thought we tackled a lot better. So very proud of them."

Marshalltown opened Homecoming night with a kickstart from senior running back Tyler Englund, who returned to action from a Week 1 injury and took the opening kick back 90 yards after a reverse handoff from Zane Moore. He trampled Camarena-Cruz as the last man to beat, sending the hometown crowd to its feet.

"A great spark there to kick off the game from our kickoff return team," Goodvin said. "They did an outstanding job. A lot of deception within that, and our kids blocked well."

East went three-and-out on its first drive, but a 60-yard punt pushed the Bobcats back to their own 20 to start their first possession. MHS got chunk runs from quarterback Larrs Schoenfelder and McLeod, and a fourth-down conversion on a 7-yard pass from Schoenfelder to Thede.

Englund returned to the backfield for three-straight runs netting 14 yards, and Schoenfelder finished off the drive with a 1-yard touchdown surge.

The Bobcat offense managed just seven more first downs and lost the ball three times on fumbles before finally pulling through in overtime. MHS also committed 14 penalties for 97 yards in an alarming lack of discipline.

"It was a little bit of everything," Goodvin said. "First off you've got to get lined up, and then you've got to know your assignment and visualize executing that assignment, and then go do it to the best of your ability. I just think we were lacking in that area. We've got guys moving pre-snap and that's not their job.

"We tell them all the time that discipline is a choice. You either are or you aren't. You've gotta choose to be disciplined and do things the right way, and we've got to get better in that category, obviously."

East outgained the Bobcats 277-199 and both teams turned the ball over three times. Luke Stalzer had an interception just before halftime in the red zone, and Madden Martin swatted the ball out of Pierce's hands when he bobbled the snap on fourth-and-3 on the first possession of the second half.

East running back Robbie Sykes had 32 carries for 113 yards and a touchdown, and Pierce was 11-for-18 for 111 yards but two interceptions.

Englund led the Bobcats with 19 carries for 85 yards in his return to action, while McLeod had nine attempts for 37 yards.

Marshalltown's remaining schedule is a daunting one, starting with a trip to Kingston Stadium this week for a showdown with Cedar Rapids Kennedy. The Bobcats are back at home on Oct. 2 with Waukee.

Marshalltown 17, Des Moines East 14, OT

At Marshalltown

Score by Quarter

DME 0 0 7 7 0 -- 14

MHS 14 0 0 0 3 -- 17

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

MHS -- Tyler Englund 90 kickoff return (Antoni Rodriguez Torres kick), 11:44.

MHS -- Larrs Schoenfelder 1 run (Torres kick), 2:50.

Third Quarter

DME -- Robbie Sykes 4 run (Leonel Camarena-Cruz kick), 3:42.

Fourth Quarter

DME -- Brandon Hogan 1 run (Camarena-Cruz kick), 7:18.

Overtime

MHS -- FG Torres 28.

TEAM STATISTICS

DME MHS

First downs 16 11

Rushes-yards 49-166 47-190

Passing yards 111 9

Comp-Att-Int 11-18-2 3-4-0

Total offense 65-277 51-199

Fumbles-lost 1-0 5-3

Penalties-yards 6-55 14-97

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING -- DME: Sykes 32-113, Hogan 7-39, Marquise Pierce 4-18, Braylen Jenkins 1-14, Anthony Richardson Jr. 1-9, Nicholas Hunt 2-0, Camarena-Cruz 1-(minus-3), TEAM 1-(minus-24); MHS: Englund 19-85, Quinn McLeod 9-37, Schoenfelder 6-24, Zane Moore 5-16, Camron Holmes 2-16, Innocent Ishangulungu 1-11, Faith Banissan 2-4, Drake Gersema 1-(minus-1), TEAM 2-(minus-2).

PASSING -- DME: Pierce 11-18-111-2; MHS: Schoenfelder 3-4-9-0.

RECEIVING -- DME: Sykes 2-35, Hunt 2-35, Jenkins 2-22, Hunter Ries 4-17, Koen Davis 1-2; MHS: Garrett Thede 1-7, Levi Bell 1-4, Moore 1-(minus-2).

Starting at /week.