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GRIMES -- The Mustangs would not be penned in.
Dallas Center-Grimes galloped past the Marshalltown football team for a 41-7 victory in Friday's Class 5A Group 2 contest, using a quick-strike offense to send the Bobcats to their third-straight loss.
The host Mustangs (5-2, 2-2) scored on each of their five first-half possessions on an average drive of three plays for 58 yards and just 59 seconds apiece, flying down the field to a 35-0 halftime lead. Dallas Center-Grimes scored touchdowns on its first, fifth and sixth plays from scrimmage.
Marshalltown (1-6, 0-3) outscored DCG 7-6 in the second half after reaching the end zone with 10 seconds left in the game. Larrs Schoenfelder hooked up with Zane Moore on a 23-yard touchdown pass to prevent the team's third consecutive shutout defeat.
DCG running back Osborn Grimm rushed nine times for 154 yards and three touchdowns, wide receiver Chase Heitland had five catches for 128 yards and two scores, and the Mustangs marched to an insurmountable first-half advantage.
"They have a lot of speed and experience," said MHS head coach Adam Goodvin. "You can tell those guys have played a lot of varsity football and we knew coming in it would take all 11 (players) swarming to the football every singe play. They kinda punched us in the mouth from the get-go with that speed."
The Mustangs had the ball five times in the first half and had it no longer than 1 minute, 55 seconds, on each possession. Quarterback Chase Engel finished 8-for-10 for 166 yards and three touchdowns as DCG scored at least 35 points for the fifth time this season -- all wins.
Marshalltown finished with 198 yards of total offense -- 44 more than the week before -- but couldn't get into the end zone until the final drive.
"I thought we did some good things offensively, moving the football," Goodvin said. "We shot ourselves in the foot, though, and you just can't do that. It doesn't matter who you're playing but a quality team like this is going to take advantage of that and we found ourselves behind real quick."
MHS senior running back Tyler Englund finished with 21 carries for 79 yards, unofficially, and Moore added 50 yards on three carries. Moore, despite dropping two potential touchdown passes, blocked a punt that set up the Bobcats' drive in the fourth quarter that he capped with his second touchdown reception of the season.
"Zane's our guy too," Goodvin said. "He came up and apologized at the end of the game and I told him not to do that. We kept going back to him for a reason -- he's our senior playmaker and we're proud of him and that's a tough position to be in."
In the end, the Bobcats were outgained 358-198.
"We saw some good things, just not enough," Goodvin said.
Marshalltown closes out its home schedule on Friday, Oct. 16, with a 7:30 p.m. game against Waterloo West.