Official site of Tribune News serving Tomball, Magnolia and Waller

The Waller Bulldogs (1-1) ran over and around the Tomball Memorial Wildcats Sept. 14, rushing for 290 yards in the 42-22 victory.

Waller had an extra week to prepare for the Wildcats and it showed, as Colten Frisby ran for 125 yards on just eight carries, while Joeseth McDade added 90 yards on four carries.

Elijah Morrow was a duel threat rushing and receiving as he ran for 43 yards on four carries and had two catches for 110 yards and two touchdowns.

Tomball Memorial (0-3) continues to show their inexperience during their first year of varsity play, but have shown improvement every week. The Wildcats gained 278 yards of total offense, their best showing of the young season.

The Wildcats had a bye week, while the Bulldogs hosted Brenham Sept. 21. Results were not available at press time.

Magnolia           17

Bryan Rudder  20

Magnolia suffered another close defeat to a Brazos County opponent, falling 20-17 in a road contest at Bryan Rudder Sept. 14.

The Bulldogs watched in agony as Rudder hit a 22-yard field goal as the clock wound down to win the game.

Magnolia had raced out to a 17 point advantage by the end of the third period, thanks to some stout defense and a balanced offensive attack. Then the game fell apart in the final quarter.

Rudder kicker Colton Bayer hit a 25-yard field goal with just over seven minutes to play, cutting the Magnolia lead to 17-10. Rudder then tied it on a rushing score with a little more than three minutes to play.

The Bulldogs then tried to drive down the field, but quarterback Noah McGowan threw an interception with 27 seconds left to play, which Rudder returned 60 yards to set up the game winning field goal.

The Bulldogs (1-2) had a bye week before they host Huntsville Sept. 28 in their first district contest.

Magnolia West   7

Brenham           29

The Magnolia West Mustangs met a stifling defense in Brenham Sept. 14, falling to the state ranked Cubs 29-7.

The Mustangs could only muster 66 total yards of offense in the contest, while the defense allowed 155 yards rushing and 130 yards in the air

West’s only score came when Jeremy Jordan took a punt and weaved 68-yards for a touchdown.

The Mustangs (1-2) hosted Willis in their first district contest of the season Sept. 21. Results were not available at press time.

Tomball                      21

Katy Mayde Creek   31

A dreadful second quarter spelled doom for the Tomball Cougars Sept. 14, as they dropped their third straight game, this time to Katy Mayde Creek.

The Cougars fell behind 24-7 at halftime, allowing Katy Mayde Creek to score all 24 of their points in the second quarter. Mayde Creek added another touchdown early in the third quarter to go up 31-7.

Tomball’s defense tightened up after that, keeping Mayde Creek from the end zone and the Cougar offense came to light, scoring twice to make the game interesting.

The Cougar’s final score, a 48-yard strike from Drew Reynolds to Xavier Powell, cut the Mayde Creek lead to 10 points, with just more than nine minutes to play.

Tomball’s defense immediately forced a three-and-out from Mayde Creek, giving the ball back to their offense with 7:15 to play.

The Cougars then spent seven plays traveling into Mayde Creek territory, before penalties and an interception killed their hopes of clawing back into the game.

Tomball (0-3) had a bye week before they traveled to Ft. Bend Marshall for their first district contest Sept. 28.

Several local teams put up valiant fights against favored opponents during their Friday night battles Sept. 28, but all of them came up on the wrong side of the scoreboard.

Magnolia West    14

Montgomery       16

Magnolia West went into its battle with Montgomery looking to win its second straight contest against its Montgomery County neighbor.

The Bears broke through for a late touchdown to take the lead 16-14 and held on by halting a final Mustangs drive with an interception to seal the win.

The game was a defensive struggle the entire night, as Magnolia West was able to hold Montgomery to less than 100 yards of offense, while taking a 7-0 halftime lead.

Montgomery broke through with a quick 72-yard drive to open up the second half, tying the score at 7-7.

The Bears then took a 10-7 lead on their next possession, before the Mustangs were able to answer.

With the Bears driving to ice the game, Magnolia West’s defense forced a fumble and recovered it, giving the Mustangs hope.

Quarterback Troy Logan found receiver Zeke Bronson in the back corner of the end zone, giving Magnolia West a 14-10 lead with just more than three minutes to play.

The Bears clawed it out in the end, however, scoring the go ahead touchdown with a little more than one minute in the game.

The loss dropped the Mustangs to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in district play.

Waller   41

Willis     42

Heartbreak.

That is the one word to describe Waller’s recent 42-41 loss to Willis, Sept. 28, as a last second field goal was declared no good because time had expired.

After the Wildkats first score, the Bulldogs raced downfield in their quest to answer, as  Colten Frisby had a catch and run of 74-yards to set up a scoring play from quarterback Rhett Loewe to Elijah Morrow from five yards out. Denny Garcia made the extra point to tie the game.

On the following kick off, the Wildkats returned it 100 yards for the score, promptly taking the lead again at 14-7. The Bulldogs responded by marching the ball down the field to score with 36 seconds left in the first quarter, as Rhett Loewe connected with Elijah Morrow on a 16-yard pass.

The defense held on the next possession and the offense quickly got to work. With only 9:47 left in the second quarter, Rhett Loewe hit Jacob Thompson on a beautiful pass in the corner of the end zone to go up 21-14.

Willis proceeded to score on their next two possessions and took the lead 28-21.

The Bulldogs came back with 2:02 left in the quarter and Colten Frisby scored on a 17-yard run up the middle to even the score at 28.

The second half fireworks started quickly as Willis kicked an on-side kick and recovered it. Willis went on to score and the next two Waller possessions were stopped by interceptions. The Wildkats were able to covert one of those turnovers into scores and took a 42-28 lead.

The Bulldog defense shut down any more offensive threats for the remainder of the game.

Waller began its comeback attempt with a 36-yard touchdown pass from Loewe to Morrow, cutting the lead to 42-35.

The fourth quarter was played hard by both defenses, but with a minute-and-a-half remaining to play, the Bulldog offense punched one through, as Loewe connected with Desmin Merrell on a nine yard fade route for the touchdown. Waller went for two, but came up short.

Then the craziness began.

The following on-side kick was executed to perfection, as Race Mellman was able to keep the ball from going out of bounds and Josh Cunningham recovered the ball.

With under a minute to play and no time-outs, the Bulldogs were able to advance the ball inside the 20-yard line. The field goal unit raced to get on the field and Denny Garcia drilled the ball down the middle of the posts. Unfortunately, the ball was not snapped before the time had run off the clock.

Waller hosted Montgomery in district play Oct. 5. Results were not available as of press time.

Tomball                      20

Ft. Bend Marshall    58

The Tomball Cougars are still searching for their first victory of the season and it looked promising, until a horrible second quarter sealed the deal for Ft. Bend Marshall.

The Cougars raced to a 14-0 lead in the games first five minutes, as Xavier Powell ran 55 yards for a touchdown, while three minutes later quarterback Drew Reynolds found Mitch Carlile for a 34-yard strike.

Then the nightmare began as Marshall rolled off 44 straight points, before Reynolds was able to connect with Dmitri Scott for a 41-yard touchdown pass with 25 seconds left in the half.

The scoring wasn’t over as Marshall was able to drive 64 yards with those precious few seconds remaining to take a 51-20 lead into the locker room.

Marshall would score one more time in the game, providing the final 58-20 score.

Powell led all Tomball rushers with 78 yards on 13 carries, while Reynolds was 7-12 passing, with the two touchdown tosses.

After a 0-3 start in district play, the Waller Bulldogs headed into their contest against Bryan Rudder with a chip on their shoulder.

After a Rudder turnover to open the game, the Bulldogs quickly mounted a drive, topped off by quarterback Rhett Loewe's five-yard run for the score. Denny Garcia tacked on the extra point to go up 7-0.

After a Bulldog field goal on their next possession, Waller forced a three-and-out from the Ranger offense. The Bulldogs proceeded to march downfield, scoring on Colten Frisby's one-yard run to go up 17-0.

The defense held up and forced another punt by the Rangers. A booming punt took Race Mellman all the way back to his own 19-yard line as he caught the ball. After breaking a couple of tackles, a wall of blockers were set up for Mellman to get behind and he promptly raced down the sideline for an 81-yard return for a score.

A  Rudder score cut the lead to 23 -7, with just under two minutes to play in the half. The Bulldogs quickly answered the score with one of their own. Chris Wilkerson and Cole Geigley were opening up some nice running lanes while Colten Frisby ran for a 35-yard gain and Josh Cunningham powered his way for 26 more.  Loewe punched it in from there to cap the scoring for the first half with 28 seconds left and the score 30-7.

Rudder scored again with 1:03 left in the third quarter and Waller's Joeseth McDade scored twice in the fourth quarter, on runs of three and 17 yards respectively, to complete the scoring and a final score of 44-1, in favor of Waller.

The Waller Bulldogs hosted the Magnolia Bulldogs on Oct. 19, for Homecoming. Results were not available at press time.

Tomball             56
Spring Woods    0   
The Cougars rolled for their third straight win, blanking Spring Woods 56-0 Oct. 18.

Tomball running back Xavier Powell opened up the scoring with a 52-yard touchdown run and the Cougars never looked back. They raced to a 42-0 halftime lead before letting the backups play much of the second half.

Powell ended the night with 153 yards on just seven rushes and two scores.

Demetri Scott added 163 yards on the ground, while only running the ball three times. He also had two scores. Scott added 48 yards receiving and another touchdown to close out his dominant night.

The Cougars improved to 3-4 on the season and 3-1 in District 22-4A.

Tomball hosts Ft. Bend Ridge Point Oct. 26 in their homecoming contest.

Tomball Memorial   36
Spring Woods          33
The Tomball Memorial Wildcats grabbed their first varsity win in school history Oct. 12, defeating Spring Woods 36-33.

The Wildcats had a balanced offensive attack, with 253 yards rushing and 264 yards through the air. Running back Payton logan paced the rushing attack with two touchdown runs, while quarterback Jordan Peterson was 14-21 passing for 264 yards and two touchdown tosses.

The win gave Tomball Memorial its first win in history, improving to 1-5 overall and 1-2 in District 22-4A.

The Wildcats traveled to Ft. Bend Marshall Oct. 19. Results were not available at press time.

The Waller Bulldogs hosted Magnolia Oct. 19 in the annual Battle of the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs from Waller came out on top 31-21 in an important district battle.

Magnolia scored first as Damian Edwards found Jordan Turnbow from 27 yards out with a  little more than four minutes left in the first quarter.

Waller returned the favor and started a drive to get the ball down to the 1-yard line, before the end of the first quarter. After switching ends of the field, Rhett Loewe took the ball over the right side of the line to score. The extra point was good and the score was tied at 7-7.

Waller struck again with 5:20 left in the half on a well-executed throw and catch from Loewe to Christian Sowell for a 14-7 lead.

The defense played hard and kept Magnolia in check on the next possession and got the ball back to the offense with a little over three minutes to play. After a couple of plays, Joeseth McDade got the ball and broke free to score from 55 yards out with about a minute to play. The extra point was good and Waller claimed a 21-7 lead going into the locker room.

Magnolia came out in the third quarter and sustained a long drive that concluded with a 5-yard pass and score cutting their deficit to 21- 14.

Waller quickly answered with a drive that fell short of the goaline but came away with a Garcia 40-yard field goal to widen the margin to ten.

McDade then scored on a 23-yard run with 10:36 left in the game to go up 31-14.

Magnolia showed some fight, as they scored on their next possession for the final 31-21 margin.

Tomball Memorial    10
Ft. Bend Marshall    56
Tomball Memorial's rough introduction into the varsity world continued Oct. 19, just a week after earning their first victory in school history. The Wildcats fell to District 22-4A and undefeated Ft. Bend Marshall by a score of 56-10.

Tomball Memorial fell behind 28-7 in the first quarter, while Marshall never looked back.

Jordan Peterson led the Wildcat offense, going 5-11 passing for 72 yards and a 16-yard touchdown toss to running back Josh Williams.
Williams added 40 yards rushing on 16 carries.

Tomball Memorial traveled to Northbrook Oct. 25. The Wildcats fell 37-10. Stats were not available as of press time. The loss dropped Tomball Memorial to 1-7 on the year.

The Waller High School cheerleaders help celebrate the ribbon cutting of a granite bulldog monument at the school. The senior classes of 2009-2013 have held fundraisers to help construct a legacy of school pride in the Waller ISD community. Individuals and businesses can purchase engraved blocks as a memorial, with a business name or graduation year. The donation level amounts range from the $100 to $500 and the brick size is based on the donation level. For more information call 936-972-3654.