The Bobcats smashed South Tama in the semifinals, 7-1, and staved off Des Moines Christian by a 4-2 margin to improve to 3-0 on the season after a 4-0 season-opening win at Newton.

“Right from the start, we’re playing well,” MHS head coach Scott Johannes said. “The guys are trusting one another, and aren’t hesitating to pass it around. … A lot of them played offseason football and are bringing it together for this and we like our start.”

In the championship game with the Lions, who were state semifinalists in Class 1A two seasons ago, the Bobcats built a 3-0 halftime lead on the back of a penalty kick from Aaron Ordaz Zambrano, a Rafael Ortiz goal and a screaming free kick from Fabian Segovia from 35 yards out that snuck in the Des Moines Christian goal with one second remaining in the half.

“We were hustling, fighting and putting in the chances that we had,” Zambrano said. “We just had to keep that intensity up.”

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown junior midfielder Aaron Ordaz Zambrano (10) winds up to kick the ball in front of Des Moines Christian’s Joseph Clement (5) during Saturday’s championship game of the Bobcat Soccer Invite at Leonard Cole Field. Zambrano scored two goals in the tournament’s title match.

The Lions answered quickly in the second half, scoring two goals in the first eight minutes from Grant Dunn and an Olson Carstensen penalty kick.

Just when it seemed like the Bobcats were on the ropes, another Segovia free kick, this one from 47 yards away from the goal, found the head of Zambrano, who flicked a header in the top-right corner of the goal to push the lead back to two goals.

“It was a great cross from [Segovia],” Zambrano said. “It just gave us some relief, to be honest. It really calmed us down.”

The Lions were able to get some run outs on long balls with the wind at their back the rest of the half, but the Bobcats held strong to protect the home turf.

“We were able to watch them play earlier in the day and really identify their strengths,” Johannes said.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown’s Antoni Rodriguez Torres (14) and Luis Monge Jr. (23) try for the header on a corner kick during the Bobcats’ 7-1 win over South Tama on Saturday at Leonard Cole Field.

MHS got goals from Gavin Misek, Joel Ortiz, Angel Chavez Ordaz, Armando Estrada, Antonio Rodriguez Torres, and a pair from Luis Monge Jr. in the big win over South Tama to start the cold, windy day.

“The guys warmed up quick, and I was wondering about that because we’re not as used to playing in the mornings,” Johannes said. “We looked good today.”

Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck finished third at the tournament with a 7-3 win over South Tama; GC/G-R started the day with a 6-0 loss to Des Moines Christian.

The Rebels are a younger squad this year, with only three seniors and eight underclassmen as well as a solid junior group that includes co-captains Aiden Betts, Hudson Clark and Kael Blohm.

“With this young group we have, we’re just trying to figure out the best fit for us,” GC/G-R head coach Jon Dinsdale said. “Literally every game, we’ve switched players around in different positions to figure that out, and even in this last game we switched up the formation — that went really well for us, but it doesn’t mean we’ll keep it.”

Freshmen Cooper Keller and Cam Thede had two goals each for GC/G-R in the win against South Tama; Dreyson Morgan, Aiden Betts and Brayden Utter added a goal each.

“We wanted to spread the field out more, which we didn’t do very well in the first game,” Dinsdale said. “I thought our communication and touches in that second game went a long way and we were able to finish up front several times.

“The work ethic from this young group is phenomenal, and that goes a long way no matter what sport. Right now, we’re just working on becoming a team, becoming one and just getting better.”

South Tama, with 11 freshmen on the roster and 16 total underclassmen, are missing a couple players due to academic ineligibility but were also coming to the tail end of a four-game, three-day stretch.

“Having very little subs that come off the bench is tough,” STC head coach Jeff Niedermann said.

Eli Cruikshank and Jair Martinez scored two goals each for the Trojans in the two games played on Saturday.

“We’ve got a decent team, young, and they’re not coming out of feeder programs, so it’s going to take some time getting used to playing with each other, passing fundamentals, and just working on our communication in general,” Niedermann said.