Tomball held the final game of their 3-game home stretch as the Magnolia Bulldogs came into town looking to cut down the beast that looms over the district at 7-0, and they also needed a win to stay in the playoff race as they were a half game behind Klein Collins for the 4th seed in the district.
Across the field, the Cougars had business to handle as a win in this game would give them a clear path to a district championship and be the first time in 33 years the Cougars opened a season with eight straight wins. But this game was deeper than just a perfect record to uphold. The Bulldogs have had Tomball’s number for the past several meetings between these teams, and there’s certainly no love lost between the two as Tomball-Magnolia was a big rivalry game before Tomball Memorial and Mag West came along.
From the opening kick, the Cougars came out firing on all cylinders. They set the tone early, chewing off big plays via both the ground and the air. The Cougars were playing with a chip on their shoulder so big it seemed that they were the one’s fighting to keep their playoff hopes alive. With a suffocatingly tight defense that refused to move and an explosive, churning offense that refused to be stopped, Tomball jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead and it looked like the route was on. However, the game was still far from over.
Magnolia would be injected with life as late in the first they would pop off a long touchdown and following a stop they would kick a field goal to make it a 10-14 ballgame. The Cougars would answer with a very long run before punching in a touchdown and executing a two-point conversion, extending their lead to 22-10 before the Bulldogs answered the haymaker with one of their own, taking the top off once again to cut the lead to 17-22 going into halftime.
Coming out of half the Cougars took complete control of the game on both sides of the ball. There were only seven total points in the half coming from one Cougar touchdown, but regardless it was complete domination from Tomball. Magnolia struggled to get any hair of movement offensively and defensively they were worn down play in and play out by the physical rushing attack of the Cougars that picked up first down after first down throughout the half as the clock continued to tick.
A very long drive that ended in an unfortunate fumble down near the redzone and a drive that ended in a victory kneel in the redzone are the only reasons the offense hadn’t put up more than seven points in the second half, however that was all they needed. Those three drives from the Cougars burned over a quarter’s worth of clock as they controlled the ball and sucked more and more life out of the Bulldogs with each first down. By the end of the 4th Magnolia was worn down and unable to keep up a fight against the Cougars’ offense, and the game would end 29-17 to advance the Cougars to 8-0 on the season.
Up next, the Cougars will play their biggest game of the season on the road against Klein Cain on Saturday at 2 pm in a game that will most likely decide the district championship. If Tomball wins they clinch the district but if Cain wins it comes down to the last week of the season. The Cougars will be looking to beat Cain for the first time in this crucial game and are hoping for lots of fans to travel to Klein Memorial Stadium for support.
Player Highlights:
#0 Oswaldo Morales
#3 Jaxyn Faldyn
#17 Hunter Rathke
Defensive Highlights:
#8 Jorge Concepcion
#13 Connor Lowe
#29 Hunter Hilshire
#34 Beckett Moore
Enjoy these photos from the game!
