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.
