The Marshall Owls entered Thursday night's match against the Helias Crusaders as the No. 6 team in the latest Class 3 state rankings.
The Owls lived up to that billing, defeating the Crusaders 4-1 at the 179 Soccer Park.
"We knew Marshall was a good team and you can't come out not ready to play like we did," Helias coach Michael Metzger said.
The Owls got on the board just less than five minutes into the contest.
"When you give up early goals like that, it can hurt your momentum the rest of the way," Metzger said. "That's a problem and that's something the guys are going to have to figure out.
"The players need to be motivated right from the start."
Down a goal, Helias played even with Marshall the remainder of the first half.
"We had the better of play at times, but it can't be us deciding to play, then having a stretch where we don't play hard, then decide to play hard again," Metzger said. "We need to play at a high level for 80 minutes or longer."
The Owls needed just 24 seconds in the second half to double their lead.
"You have to come out and want to compete," Metzger said. "We're at home, it's Senior Night, everything was there for us to play hard."
Marshall made it 3-0 on a penalty kick with 27:41 left in the contest.
Helias, which outshot Marshall 10-9 in the game, got on the board with 8:38 remaining on a goal by Arris Pardalos on a penalty kick.
"It seems like when it's too late, that's when we start competing," Metzger said. "It seems like we are waiting to start playing when we need to get something back and that's not the way it works.
"Against good teams, winning is not going to happen with you playing like that."
Marshall (15-2-1) got the final goal of the contest with a little more than two minutes remaining.
Helias (11-7) has four games before the start of the district tournament.
"Hopefully something happens between now and then," Metzger said. "We're too good of a team, there's too much talent on this team not to make a run."
It was the final home game for Helias, which will play Saturday at Southern Boone.
In Thursday's JV game, Helias topped Marshall 6-1. Zach Paschal, Sean Foley, Luke Mertens, Adam Veit, Christian Cepeda and Brice Bond scored for the Crusaders. Kaleb Wilson, Jack Hoey, Paschal and Foley were credited with assists.