Magnolia's season ends on late Klein scoring drive

A little sprinkle of rain certainly matched the mood of the Magnolia Bulldogs late Friday night.

It was an emotional postgame scene after a tough way to lose a game and end a season. But it’s a prideful Bulldog bunch that truly don’t have much to hang their heads about.

With 16 seconds left in the game, Klein scored a touchdown to get to within a point of

Magnolia and then the Bearkats succeeded on a two-point attempt on a trick play to go ahead.

Magnolia ran out of time as it fell short of the playoffs in its first Class 6A season on a 32-31 loss to the Bearkats at Klein Memorial Stadium.

Magnolia (5-5, 4-4) finished tied for fifth place in District 15-6A and Klein Collins, on its bye week, clinched the final playoff spot. The Tigers will face Cypress Woods next week in the Region II-6A Division II bi-district round.

A lot of hugs and high emotion for guys in white jerseys and maroon numbers afterwards.

“The main message was how much we love them and how much we care about them,” Magnolia coach Craig Martin said about the postgame gathering on the field with his stunned players looking on. “That doesn’t teeter on the outcome of a football game. Incredible senior class that has done so much for this program and helped put us on the map when all was said and done. That’s it.”

Klein (6-4, 4-4) got the ball back with less than a minute to play after Magnolia punted on a drive where it milked away all three Bearkat timeouts. Klein quarterback Carter Lattelle completed a 57-yard pass to Paul Torrey down to the 18-yard line. Two plays later, Lattelle hit Grant Stratta who didn’t give up down the sideline and into the end zone. Lattelle then caught a Philly Special for the two-point conversion.

“Certainly we’re disappointed and I don’t know that there’s a worse way to lose a game right there at the very end,” Martin said. “But credit to (Klein). They made plays when they had to make them. We knew it was going to be a tough battle and we knew they weren’t going to give it to us. They had a lot of motivation to finish strong and they did.”

It was an eventful second half after Magnolia carried a 10-7 lead into halftime.

Magnolia senior Colin Leahey, who reached the end zone four times on the night, scored on a nine-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Chase Lowery on the first drive of the second half to go up 10.

Klein’s Caleb Gardner made a field goal on the ensuing drive to pull to a 17-10 deficit.

The Bearkats then tied the game on a four-yard run by Edward Kelly, his second score of the night to tie the game.

With Lowery out after taking a hit on the far sideline on a rollout, backup quarterback Teague Clements came on, completed a 36-yard pass to Jordan Enyart and then a 43-yard touchdown pass to Leahey, who brought it in with his fingertips down the middle of the field for the 24-17 lead.

In between that score and the next one, Magnolia junior Max Lejsek was huge with two takeaways. He recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass to give Magnolia opportunities.

“He certainly made some big plays,” Martin said. “I just hate it that we didn’t get a couple more first downs and made some plays and put some points on the board.”

With 8:38 left in the game, Klein’s Brandon Brigman carried his team on his back and finished with a four-yard touchdown to tie it at 24-all.

Lowery got back into the mix for Magnolia and connected with Leahey for a 51-yard screen pass to the house with 6:14 left for the 31-24 lead.

“It was kind of an unplanned thing,” Martin said of relying on both quarterbacks in the second half. “Chase went down kind of weird and he was okay. Teague made some really good throws there and just went with the hot hand. That’s really it. We still have a lot of confidence and faith in Chase. Chase got us here. Proud of both of those guys.”

Klein turned the ball over on downs on the ensuing drive, but Clements threw an interception to Dyshon Washington with 1:46 left.

The interception didn’t hurt as Magnolia’s defense stepped up and held Klein again to another fourth down stop.

Magnolia ran the ball to make Klein burn its timeouts before punting on fourth-and-4 with just under a minute to play.

Klein was pinned at its 25 before its late touchdown.

Magnolia was its most productive on offense on its first two drives of the night.

After receiving the opening kick, Leahey busted off a 28-yard run on the first play from scrimmage. Six plays later, Leahey reached the end zone from 1-yard out and the early lead.

The touchdown run was Leahey’s 17th rushing score of the season and also the 10th straight game reaching the end zone.

Leahey finished with 127 receiving yards and 118 rushing yards to cap his high school career.

“Another incredible performance by him,” Martin said. “He’s such an incredible kid. Colin Leahey is going to be a phenomenal man when he leaves here and he’ll always represent Magnolia High with dignity and class. That’s what I’m proud of.”

After Klein turned it over on downs on its first drive, Magnolia drove down into Bearkats territory again.

After getting stalled out, junior Gavin Gonzales directed a 42-yard field goal at the 5:20 mark for the 10-0 lead. It was Gonzales’ third straight 40-plus yard field goal dating back to last week.

Klein wasn’t able to do anything with a Klein fumble near the end of the first quarter. But at the 8:36 mark of the second quarter, the Bearkats were on the board.

After a long run by Kelly earlier in the drive, the junior pushed home a 1-yard score.

The 10-7 scoreboard reading lasted until halftime as Hudson Enyart prevented Klein from tying the game on its next drive by blocking a 45-yard field goal attempt.

Lowery finished with 107 passing yards while Clements had 94.

Ty Miller, Aaron Fletcher and Ayden Johsnon all made sacks for Magnolia.

Magnolia was looking to reach the playoffs for the second straight year and carried momentum off a 27-14 Magnolia Bowl win last week.

The sting of the defeat will be temporary.

“They should be proud of themselves and I wanted them to know how much their coaching staff, their administrators, their classmates, the city of Magnolia and all of the above is proud of them, too,” Martin said.