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Opportunity knocks, ’Cats can’t answer

Waterloo West sends Marshalltown football to fourth-straight loss, 31-0

By Ross Thede 6 min read

Waterloo West scored more points, gained more yards and committed fewer turnovers and penalties, so Marshalltown head football coach Adam Goodvin gives the Wahawks all the credit in the world.

Even still, he can't help but wonder what Friday's home-field finale would have been like if his Bobcats had made the plays in front of them.

The Marshalltown football team suffered its third shutout defeat as its losing streak extended to four with a 31-0 loss to Waterloo West on Friday night at Leonard Cole Field. The Class 5A Group 2 contest was also the final home game for 22 Bobcat seniors, who were honored before kickoff.

Too many missed opportunities, however, will be the Bobcats' biggest takeaway from their last home game.

"I said there were plays out there to be made," Goodvin said of his postgame talk with his team. "In a football game, you've got to make those, and that's on me for not preparing them to go out there with the confidence to execute plays and put them in a position to win the game too.

"We've got to get better all-around than what we were tonight."

Marshalltown's offense amassed just 145 yards, most of them by senior tailback Tyler Englund. Englund finished with 26 carries for 116 yards, but had a 14-yard touchdown run called back on a holding penalty and also had a 99-yard kickoff return for touchdown erased by a pair of penalties on the final play of the first half.

A multitude of mistakes made the game a lot less competitive than the Bobcats (1-7, 0-4) felt it could have been.

"We felt good, I thought the kids had a lot of energy the last couple days of practice," Goodvin said. "I told them before the game that the energy's got to stay high and it's got to be used in the 48 minutes that matter the most, and unfortunately I thought we were inconsistent with that.

"We talked a lot about the physicality that it was going to take to put ourselves in that position, and I thought it was there at points, but not near enough as it needs to be."

Waterloo West got a 35-yard field goal on its first possession and slowly pulled away, scoring on the next-to-last play of the first and second quarters.

The Wahawks (3-5, 1-3) capitalized on a quick change opportunity for their first touchdown, following up a fumble recovery with a 33-yard scoring strike from Cole Dean to Jaylen Allen.

A 40-yard field-goal attempt by Innocent Ishangulungu hit the underside of the crossbar on the Bobcats' next possession, and Marshalltown's next drive was stuffed on consecutive carries needing one yard to first down.

Waterloo West went 50 yards on eight plays with Elijah Wortham punching it in for a 1-yard touchdown plunge with 10 seconds left before halftime.

Englund took the ensuing kickoff back 99 yards for a touchdown that was wiped out by penalties, and MHS trailed 17-0 at the half.

"That's what it came down to -- making plays," Goodvin said. "It's easy to put blame here or there, but it comes down to all of us. We've all got to do a better job in every single category."

West received the opening kickoff of the second half, but the Bobcat defense forced a three-and-out and took over at midfield. Marshalltown's offense was marching before a debated intentional grounding penalty pushed them back, and a wide-open receiver got turned around and couldn't haul in a surefire touchdown pass.

Marshalltown's defense stood tall again as senior defensive end Kieron Sharp came up with a fumble recovery, but the offense couldn't deliver from favorable field position.

Another defensive stand got the ball back for the Bobcats, but a pair of bobbled snaps stalled the drive before Ishangulungu's punt was partially blocked.

Two Perignon Holmes runs later, Waterloo West had covered 47 yards to reach paydirt for a 24-0 advantage. A 1-yard plunge by Dean on the Wahawks' next drive helped them snap their own four-game losing skid with their first shutout win since 2021.

"When things go bad, you can't just shut down," Goodvin said. "It's got to stay on. It's not a light switch, you can't turn it on and off."

The Wahawks got 192 of their 265 yards on the ground, led by Holmes with 13 carries for 89 yards. Dean was 7-for-13 for 73 yards with a touchdown.

Marshalltown sophomore quarterback Larrs Schoenfelder connected with Zane Moore on a 17-yard pass for the Bobcats' only completion, and the ground game was limited to 128 yards on 45 carries.

It simply wasn't the way Goodvin wanted his seniors' last home game to go.

"It's a really great group of kids," he said. "We've been through our ups and downs with them these last four years. We're proud of them. I know at times it doesn't seem like that I'm sure in their eyes, but it's the truth.

"They've put in a lot of time and energy and effort into this throughout the offseason, the early mornings in March and April. We've spent a lot of time to together, I'm thankful for them and glad that we get another week with them."

The Bobcats close their season with a game against defending state champion Dowling Catholic (7-1, 4-0) this Friday at Valley Stadium in West Des Moines.

Waterloo West 31, Marshalltown 0

Score by Quarter

WW 10 7 0 14 -- 31

MHS 0 0 0 0 -- 0

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

WW -- FG Ajdin Rizvic 35, 1:23.

WW -- Jaylen Allen 33 pass from Cole Dean (Rizvic kick), :15.

Second Quarter

WW -- Elijah Wortham 1 run (Rizvic kick), :10.

Fourth Quarter

WW -- Perignon Holmes 28 run (Rizvic kick), 9:29.

WW -- Dean 1 run (Rizvic kick), 4:31.

TEAM STATISTICS

WW MHS

First downs 16 12

Rushes-yards 37-192 45-128

Passing yards 73 17

Comp-Att-Int 7-13-0 1-7-1

Total offense 50-265 52-145

Fumbles-lost 2-1 5-1

Penalties-yards 4-54 6-40

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING -- WW: Holmes 13-89, Wortham 9-59, Allen 1-21, Isaiah Shepard 4-12, Luke Lindaman 2-11, Michael Cunningham Jr. 1-9, Dean 4-8, TEAM 3-(minus-17); MHS: Tyler Englund 26-116, Zane Moore 5-15, Faith Banissan 2-4, Larrs Schoenfelder 11-(minus-3), TEAM 1-(minus-4).

PASSING -- WW: Dean 7-13-73-0; MHS: Schoenfelder 1-7-17-1.

RECEIVING -- WW: Allen 2-49, Cunningham Jr. 1-16, Malik Johnson-Holmes 4-8; MHS: Moore 1-17.

Starting at /week.