Hurt, but not out of it.
That was the gist of Magnolia’s situation with three weeks left in the season after a tough home loss Friday night in District 15-6A.
Klein Collins, a nemesis the past couple years before Magnolia even moved up a class, trailed at halftime, but scored three unanswered touchdowns after the break and hung on for a 31-28 loss.
Magnolia (4-3, 3-2) started the night in third place while Klein Collins (5-3, 4-2) has now won two straight and four of five after an 0-3 start to the season. The Tigers rise up the standings from fifth place.
“Klein Collins is a good football team,” Magnolia coach Craig Martin said. “And we knew that they were. I knew they were much better than their overall record and the teams that they lost to were some really good teams. They’re an established 6A program.”
Klein Collins junior quarterback Braydon Schoggin had his hand on all four touchdowns — two passing and two rushing. He especially came up big in the second half.
Schoggin hit Micah Hampton for a 45-yard touchdown pass with 8:43 left in the third quarter to tie the game. He then rushed for a 4-yard score with 3:29 left in the third and a 10-yard score six seconds into the fourth quarter to build to a 28-14 lead.
Eighty seconds after the second Schoggin rushing score, Magnolia got back to within a touchdown as Colin Leahey completed a two-yard touchdown run to extend his streak of scoring to seven games. It was his 13th rushing score of the year.
Magnolia sophomore Cash Ferrell, who scored on a run in the second quarter, connected with Jordan Enyart on a 43-yard pass to get down to the 2 and set up the scoring play by Leahey.
Magnolia forced a three-and-out to get the ball back, but failed to convert on fourth down on a fake punt run.
The Tigers got the ball back and hit a 25-yard field goal to go up 10 points with 4:01 left.
A trick play that saw Enyart hit sophomore quarterback Chase Lowery for a 42-yard gain helped set up the second Demon Perrino (a defensive lineman) big man score of the season with 2:55 left and pull the Bulldogs to within three.f
After Magnolia couldn’t recover an onside kick, Klein Collins got the first down needed to run out the clock.
“I’m proud of the fact that we don’t stop, we don’t quit,” Martin said. “We had to use some timeouts early in the second half and it kind of cost us. But we took some chances and that’s what you have to do in these situations.”
It wasn’t an ideal start to the game for Magnolia, but the Bulldogs did a good job settling in to hold a 14-7 lead at halftime.
Klein Collins got a tipped interception to cap Magnolia’s opening drive as Jarrod Penright secured the ball and turned up field to the Bulldogs 23.
The Tigers went up a score with five plays into their ensuing drive as Micah Callens hauled in an 8-yard touchdown pass from Schoggin.
After a scoreless first quarter, Magnolia got on the board 30 seconds into the second quarter.
Ferrell took a direct snap 2-yard run to the end zone to tie the game up.
Then with 2:03 left in the second quarter, junior Ian Slocum snagged a 6-yard touchdown pass from Lowery to cap a 15-yard drive.
“I know our kids played hard,” Martin said. “I don’t know if there’s anything you can initially point to and we say we did just did a terrible of. I think you credit (Klein Collins) for also making play and they have good coaches.”
Leahey finished with 61 rushing yards while Ferrell and Leahey each had 31 apiece. The Bulldogs totaled 151 rushing yards all together.
Enyart had 62 receiving yards and passed for 42.
Lowery was 8-for-15 for 66 yards.
For Klein Collins, Schoggin passed for 104 yards and ran for 64.
The Tigers came into the night averaging 44 points per game in district wins. It only averaged 10.5 points in losses.
In non-district play the past two years, Klein Collins had wins over Magnolia. It is 5-0 all-time against the Bulldogs now.
Klein Collins, which doesn’t have its bye until Week 11, hosts Klein Cain next Friday night.
Magnolia falls to 1-3 at home on the season. It takes a 3-0 road record back out to Tomball next Friday to play the first-place Cougars, who played rival Tomball Memorial Friday night.
“Overall, the takeaway is we’re still a good football team in a tough district,” Martin said. “There’s still a lot of things that could happen. The good news is that we control our own destiny in that regard. Now, we have to go face another good football team at their place. We’ll come up with a good plan, have a good week of practice and try to get over that hump.”
(Chris Zorzi/SportCast Media)
