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Magnolia, River Are Both Looking to Right the Ship

Photo by Scott McCloskey Dakota Litton (4), Sebastian Stickler (21), Jared Barrows (55) and the rest of the Magnolia defense will look to help snap a two-game losing streak.

HANNIBAL — Magnolia and River could not have started the season much different with the Blue Eagles winning their opener then losing the next two and the Pilots dropping their first two but picking up their first victory last week.

Friday night at Martin Flannery Field, Coach Dave “Doc” Chapman’s Magnolia squad will look to break out of its two-game slide while Coach Mike Flannery’s River team will be in search of a winning streak when the two cross-river rivals collide.

The Blue Eagles struggled getting the rushing attack going (22 carries for minus-29) yards) in last week’s 50-20 setback at Shadyside while also falling victim to big plays from the Tigers’ offense.

“Things kind of got away from us in the second quarter last week, but honestly, I felt like there were one big play on offense and one on defense that if we just execute better who knows, maybe things don’t get away from us so quickly,” Chapman said. “But it comes down to making plays on both sides of the football and we just plain failed to do it last week and it cost us dearly.

“We ran the ball well against Sherman in the opener, but we have had no running game at all the past two weeks and that is indicative of us losing both of those. I know that in order to be successful we cannot be one-dimensional and are definitely going to have to find a way to run the football.”

Meanwhile, the Pilots had arguably their best quarter of the season with a 22-point outburst in the fourth quarter in a come-from-behind 28-7 triumph over county rival Monroe Central a week ago.

“It was probably our best quarter of the year,” Flannery said of his team’s fourth-quarter performance last week. “I told the kids to just continue to take small steps and things will work out.

“We made some adjustments at the half and were able to capitalize on some things in the fourth quarter. We also moved a couple of people around and our defense played much better.”

And while River used the big quarter to gain victory at Monroe Central, it was a 34-point second quarter outburst by Shadyside that did Magnolia in.

Senior quarterback Pat Mirandy has done an admirable job under center for the Blue Eagles, completing 35 of 72 chances for 482 yards and six touchdowns through three games. Classmate Sebastian Stickler has been his favorite receiver with 14 grabs for 244 and three scores.

Sophomore Jason Beisel has been a nice addition to the roster, gaining 135 yards and a touchdown on the ground, but was limited to negative-11 yards on four totes last week. Beisel was very active on defense while adding a 90-yard kickoff return for a score.

“This is a big cross-river rivalry game and we both come in 1-2, but you can be assured it will have all the bells and whistles that it always does,” Flannery said. “Doc and I are personal friends and it is always good to play against guys that you know put the integrity of the game first.

“We have a lot of respect for them and as always they are a finesse team. Our biggest concern is containing Mirandy, who I believe is one of the better quarterbacks in the valley.”

Flannery, who is dealing with his smallest team numbers wise at River, watched his team use a balanced offense and stifling defense, which allowed just 181 total yards, against the Seminoles.

Junior quarterback Stone Thompson threw for 139 yards a week ago and has more than 300 yards on the season with sophomore Michael Johnson catching three passes for 97 yards, putting his near 200 for the year.

Johnson also had a big night running the ball, picking up 131 yards on 11 tries, with Hunter Dennis adding 90 yards on 19 carries.

“They are few in numbers, but Mike (Flannery) always puts a quality football team on the field,” Chapman said. “They may only have 20 players, but you can be assured you are going to see 11 pretty good guys.

“They are young and we know they lost a lot from last year, but they do a good job over there and we know we will be in for a battle for sure.”

River has won the last two meetings in convincing fashion, outscoring their rivals by a 95-48 margin. Magnolia’s last win in the series was a 40-12 victory in 2015.

“With only 20 kids you have to keep your fingers crossed every night at practice that everyone comes out all right,” Flannery said. “It is also different not being able to see 11 guys coming at us until Friday nights. The game is fast anyway and you have to adjust to that when you are not used to seeing it at practice.”

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