As Magnolia continues its pursuit of a playoff spot out of District 15-6A, in comes Magnolia West Friday night with nothing more at stake than making its rival miserable.
Aren’t rivalries great?
The Bulldogs (4-4, 3-3) aren’t flinching and aren’t overlooking the task at hand, despite the fact that the Mustangs (1-7, 0-6) have had a down year and will miss the playoffs for just the fourth time ever in program history.
The lead up to the 17th Magnolia Bowl has storylines galore as Bulldog Stadium is expected to be jam-packed Friday – the first night of November – at 7 p.m.
“Rivalry games are so much fun to be a part of either as a fan, a coach or a player,” Magnolia coach Craig Martin said. “Certainly a little bit more stressful on the coaches this week than the players and the fans. When it’s all said and done, we’re blessed to have a rivalry game and that everybody gets to do that.”
Martin has been around for five previous meetings with the Mustangs. Magnolia West is 10-6 all-time in the series, but Magnolia prevailed last year in a season which both teams reached the postseason.
“Fifty-one weeks out of the year, we are really rooting for them to be successful, too,” Martin said of the Mustangs, who are under the direction of fourth-year head coach Ben McGehee. “It’s that fifty-second week of the year that we become enemies for a little bit. It’s a cool experience and the community has always embraced it.”
The Bulldogs safety net is gone after tough games the past two weeks.
Magnolia has dropped two straight games – to Klein Collins by a field goal two weeks ago and a 29-17 loss at undefeated and first-place Tomball last Friday night.
Magnolia West, meanwhile, hasn’t tasted victory since a Week 2 non-district win over Katy Morton Ranch.
But this is a rivalry game. Records sometimes don’t mean a darned thing and that’s something touched on this week during Magnolia team meetings.
“That’s something that we’ve talked about,” Martin said. “But as always, we’re focused on us, and what we need to do to get better, what our game plan and to execute it. The warning to our kids was don’t look towards something else. We have to focus on this one. (Magnolia West) would love nothing better than to knock us out or make it really difficult for us to get in and take that trophy to their side of town.
“That would certainly make their season feel a lot better than it has so far.”
Magnolia comes in off that loss to Tomball and a big goal is to put too halves together offensively. The Bulldogs trailed by three on two occasions to the Cougars, but were shut out in the second half.
“We went into it wanting to come out with a victory,” Martin said. “Disappointed in the outcome. From a coaching standpoint, I was proud of our effort again. They’re not undefeated by accident. They’re a good football team.”
The week before that, Magnolia scored 14 points in the fourth quarter against Klein Collins as the teams exchanged scores down the stretch and the Tigers hung on.
Magnolia’s offense has been primed all year by the rushing attack led by Colin Leahey, who has scored in every game this year and is 45 yards shy of 1,000 on the season. Sophomore Cash Ferrell has added a wrinkle to the offense with speed and agility that keeps the opposition off balance and sophomore quarterback Chase Lowery has spread the ball around to the receivers well and can use his legs if needed.
Magnolia is 1-3 at Bulldog Stadium so far this season and is hoping to salute the crowd victorious in the final regular season game there.
Magnolia West, meanwhile, has been banged up all year. The Mustangs’ worst season in terms of number of wins was their inaugural campaign in 2008 when they went 2-7.
“They’re not a bad football team and they’re better than their record is,” Martin said. “They’ve been really, really plagued with injuries. Not just a guy out here and there. There’s been some season-ending injury stuff. I still think they’re a good football team that’s well-coached and the ball hasn’t bounced their way this year.”
Quarterback Bryson Broadway leads the attack and has had past success throwing the ball around Magnolia. The senior has 1,188 passing yards and rushed for another 218. Broadway has nine passing touchdowns and has rushed for three.
“He is quite capable of throwing the ball all over the field,” Martin said. “That’s been a focal point for us defensively this week is being prepared for that.”
Magnolia West ends the season next week against Klein Cain.
Magnolia, meanwhile, will face Klein on the road next Friday.
Magnolia senior Colin Leahey (2) celebrates a touchdown last week against Tomball with teammates Jordan Enyart (13) and Chase Lowery (9) (Noah Mabry/SportCast Media)
