WEST DES MOINES — The Marshalltown football team wanted to give West Des Moines Valley more than an informal tune-up for the postseason.

The Bobcats’ hopes of that were derailed almost immediately, and the Tigers cruised into the first round of the Class 5A state football playoffs with a 35-8 victory in Friday’s regular-season finale.

Marshalltown head coach Adam Goodvin got the effort he wanted out of his squad in the second half, regardless of which team lined up across from his, and closed the campaign with a 2-7 record for the second year in a row.

“I think the wheels started falling off when we had that penalty on our first drive,” he said. “We were moving the ball and we were set up to get a first down there and we got that penalty and for some reason our effort just kinda went down the drain with it.

“We really challenged the kids at halftime about taking pride and being prideful in yourself, in your school and your teammates, and playing for each other. I’m proud of them because they responded. We know [Valley] played some backups in the second half, but effort is a thing you can tell no matter who you’re playing against, and it was a totally different effort in the second half for sure.”

Sixth-ranked Valley (7-2) sauntered into the playoffs behind its prolific offense, averaging 10.8 yards per play over the course of the contest. The Tigers scored touchdowns on five of their first six possessions and led 35-0 at the half.

The only failed drive for Valley in the first half ended in a lost fumble as Zak Wilder hit tight end Zach Schemper and forced a fumble that Aiden Smitherman recovered.

Marshalltown held Valley to six first downs in the second half to keep the Tigers in check, and the Bobcats finally got on the scoreboard with 4:35 left to play. Quarterback Jacob Hayes hooked up with Talon Halsted for a pair of pass plays covering 36 and 31 yards, the latter of which went into the end zone. Hayes added the two-point conversion run before Valley ran the rest of the time off the clock.

“I told them I was proud of them,” Goodvin said of the final postgame huddle. “It was a rough halftime, to be honest with you, because quite frankly it doesn’t matter who we’re playing. We could be playing the New England Patriots, but you’ve gotta go out there and compete. It’s gotta be within you and they responded well so I was very proud of them and made sure they knew that.”

Darius Mason scored three touchdowns to lead the Tigers, rushing five times for 66 yards and two TDs while catching a 3-yard touchdown pass. Jayden Davison scored on a 53-yard touchdown run on Valley’s third play from scrimmage and led the team with 79 rushing yards.

Valley rushed 13 times for 157 yards, while quarterbacks Drake DeGroote and Ethan Stemler combined to go 11-for-16 for 155 yards with one touchdown apiece.

Most of Marshalltown’s offense came on its final scoring drive, as the Bobcats were held to 141 yards. Senior running back Davis Ragland led the Bobcats with 56 yards on 17 carries, and Smitherman added 22 yards on three carries. Hayes was 3-for-6 passing for 58 yards and a touchdown.

Ragland was one of 13 Bobcat seniors playing in their final prep football game.

“We’re gonna miss them for sure,” Goodvin said. “There’s a long list of guys we’ll miss, not only their skills on the field but having them around every single day, just being able to [talk] with them, and the leadership they can provide for our younger kids is going to be missed for sure.”

Valley 35, Marshalltown 8

At West Des Moines

MHS 0 0 0 8 — 8

VAL 21 14 0 0 — 35

First Quarter

VAL — Jayden Davison 53 run (Christian Hesser kick), 10:42.

VAL — Darius Mason 7 run (Hesser kick), 6:13.

VAL — Trent Grevengoed 45 pass from Ethan Stemler (Hesser kick), 4:34.

Second Quarter

VAL — Mason 20 run (Hesser kick), 8:45.

VAL — Mason 3 pass from Drake DeGroote (Hesser kick), 3:14.

Fourth Quarter

MHS — Talon Halsted 31 pass from Jacob Hayes (Hayes run), 4:35.

TEAM STATISTICS

MHS VAL

First Downs 6 17

Rushes-yards 31-83 13-157

Passing Yards 58 155

Comp-Att-Int 3-6-0 11-16-0

Total Offense 37-141 29-312

Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-1

Penalties-yards 2-20 2-15

Time of Possession 24:23 22:01

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — MHS: Davis Ragland 17-56, Aiden Smitherman 3-22, Ethan Gorsuch 2-9, TEAM 1-0, Hayes 8-(minus-4); VAL: Davison 5-79, Mason 5-66, Robin Brooks 9-48, Emmanuel Roemmich 7-41, King Coleman 1-12, Jayden Brown 1-3, DeGroote 1-(minus-3).

PASSING — MHS: Hayes 3-6-58-0; VAL: DeGroote 5-10-94-0, Stemler 6-6-61-0.

RECEIVING — MHS: Halstead 2-67, Kyle Smith 1-(minus-9); VAL: Grevengoed 2-64, Zach Schemper 4-45, Owen Woods 2-17, Brown 1-17, Brooks 1-9, Mason 1-3.