Bulldogs strike last in wild 4th quarter, hand Cougars 1st loss
MAGNOLIA — It wasn’t quite on the level of last year’s Magnolia-Tomball matchup. But the two teams still kept the scoreboard operator plenty busy.
With the District 20-5A game deadlocked, Magnolia got the big turnover and converted it into the winning touchdown for a 56-49 victory over Tomball on Friday night at Bulldog Stadium. These two teams combined for 129 points a year ago.
After Michael Woods tied the game at 49-all on a 38-yard reception, Michael Fedotov recovered a fumble for Magnolia (3-1, 2-0 in 20-5A). That set up a 38-yard catch and run by Ben Renfro, who had 12 receptions for 204 yards and three TDs in the game, to give the Bulldogs the lead.
“They’ve got a great football team,” Magnolia coach Sterling Doty said. “They’ve got some really elusive guys on offense. Tybo Taylor is a phenomenal athlete. Those defensive guys played really hard, and we got the stops when we needed to.”
Tomball (4-1, 1-1) had exploited Magnolia mistakes to forge a 10-point lead in the third quarter.
And that led to an absolute slugfest in the fourth quarter as the district rivals teamed up for eight scoring drives.
Mason had two rushing scores for the Bulldogs in the quarter while Ja’Kobi Holland rushed in for a pair of TDs for Tomball.
Renfro caught his second touchdown pass of the game early in the fourth quarter from 14 yards out.
Tomball had a late drive get down into the red zone, but Magnolia got the stop with eight seconds left.
“I’m really proud of our kids and the way they battled and never laid down,” Tomball coach Kevin Flanigan said. “Even with 15 seconds left, they were trying to get into the end zone and believing they can win.”
Tomball got a 25-yard field goal by Austin Hudgens on its first drive of the second half to snap a 21-all tie at halftime.
The Cougars then recovered a Woods fumble and turned it into a long touchdown run by Taylor.
The Bulldogs initially stopped Tomball on a third-and-long. But after offsetting personal fouls, Taylor got another crack at it and zig-zagged down the field for 79 yards and a touchdown to make it 31-21.
For the game, Taylor rushed for 234 yards and passed for 190.
The first half was highscoring, similar to a year ago.
Magnolia jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter as Reese Mason threw touchdown passes of 8 yards to Colton Caycedo and then Michael Woods from 12 yards out.
After Woods’ touchdown, Taylor, the QB who also serves as Tomball’s punter, got his team on the scoreboard. He turned a fourth-down punt fake and converted on a 22yard first-down sprint. Two plays later, Taylor turned on the jets again as he found the end zone up the middle from 34 yards out.
The scoring came fast and furious in the second quarter.
A missed 27-yard field goal by Magnolia gave the Cougars a chance to tie ,and they did just that. Taylor connected with Austin Buteaux from 10 yards out to make it 14-all.
Magnolia responded just over a minute later as Mason tossed his third touchdown pass of the first half, this time finding Renfro.