Magnolia West's Title Bid Falls Short Against College Station

MAGNOLIA, TX — Magnolia West landed a few punches in the first half, but College Station’s high-flying offense and stout defense left the Mustangs still searching for the program’s first outright district title.

The second-ranked Cougars scored the final 29 points to roll to the District 8-5A Division I title with a 41-20 victory over No. 10 Magnolia West on Friday at Mustang Stadium.

Magnolia West (9-1, 6-1) was looking to win the program’s third district title, its first since 2017 and the first outright championship. College Station (10-0, 7-0) won its first district title since 2017 and finished the regular season undefeated for the second time in school history.

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The Mustangs will host Tyler John Tyler for a bi-district playoff game next week as they push past the disappointment of missing out on a district title and focus on making a deep playoff run.

“We’ve got to wash this one [away] real quick,” Magnolia West coach Ben McGehee said. “We’ve got a good Tyler football team coming in here, and we’ve got to go to work getting ready for those guys and put this one behind us. It’s full steam ahead at this point. We’ve got to get ready for the playoffs.”

Magnolia West led the Cougars late in the first half, but College Station grabbed the momentum back with 15 points in the final two minutes of the second quarter to turn a 20-12 deficit into a 27-20 halftime lead.

College Station senior quarterback Jett Huff hit the 6-foot-6 Houston Thomas on a 9-yard fade for a touchdown and then connected with Dalton Carnes on the two-point conversion to tie the game with 1:44 left in the half.

The Cougars then forced a punt and had 51 seconds left after the Mustangs ran out of bounds on third down, stopping the clock. Huff directed the Cougars 54 yards in six plays to take the lead with eight seconds left. Huff threaded the needle to Traylen Suel between two defenders in the back of the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown to cap the drive.

Magnolia West was in position to tie the game after an onside kick recovery to begin the third quarter, but the Mustangs failed to convert on fourth down from the College Station 32-yard line when quarterback Brock Dalton was sacked by Caleb Skow.

“That was huge because that could have been a big momentum swing there,” College Station coach Steve Huff said.

College Station added to its lead when Marquise Collins burst through the line for a 67-yard touchdown run with 2 minutes left in the third quarter. Collins added a 4-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to put the game away. He finished with 227 yards and three scores on 19 carries. Jett Huff completed 17 of 21 passes for 216 yards and three touchdowns, one each to Carnes, Thomas and Suel.

Magnolia West senior running back Hunter Bilbo rushed for 111 yards on 16 carries but suffered a minor injury in the second half and was held out of the rest of the game for precautionary reasons. Bilbo will play in the bi-district game, McGehee said.

Colton Adcox led all receivers with 13 catches for 114 yards, and Dalton completed 22 of 34 passes for 177 yards.

“We’ve got to close out drives offensively,” McGehee said. “I thought our defense did a better job in the second half. We gave up a couple big plays but besides that, we kinda settled in a little bit. Our offense just didn’t finish drives in the second half to keep us in it. They shut us out in the second half.”

With College Station keying on Bilbo early, Magnolia West turned to Dalton for a methodical opening drive that took 15 plays to drive 72 yards over almost six minutes. Dalton completed 6 of 7 passes for 43 yards and rushed three times for 20 yards, capping the drive with a 1-yard touchdown on a quarterback sneak.

College Station answered quickly as Huff connected with Carnes deep down the left sideline for a 59-yard touchdown, but Dawson Schremp’s point-after-attempt went wide left to keep it at 7-6. Magnolia West’s lead didn’t last long, though, as College Station forced a punt and reeled off another big play. Collins broke off a 56-yard touchdown scamper on the second snap, giving the Cougars a 12-7 lead after a failed two-point attempt.

Magnolia West put together its second methodical drive of the game, going 75 yards in 10 plays to retake a 13-12 lead. The drive was capped by a whacky play that saw Adcox fumble the ball on the way into the end zone, where fellow receiver Daniel Horn recovered for a touchdown with 9:13 left in the second quarter.

Magnolia West then forced College Station’s first punt and added to its lead as Bilbo broke free for an 81-yard touchdown run to make it 20-12 with 5:57 left in the first half.