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Blue Devils roll to 20th straight win after beating Magnolia

St. Marys explodes in second half for win

Photo by Jay W. Bennett St. Marys’ Dylan Gray tackles Magnolia running back Hunter Partridge during Friday night’s 35-6 homecoming win against the Blue Eagles.

ST. MARYS — In a homecoming game which wasn’t decided until the fourth quarter, it was the St. Marys defense which stood strong here Friday evening at Bill Hanlin Stadium as the No. 3 Blue Devils handed Magnolia a 35-6 setback.

Playing without starting quarterback Eric Illar for the second straight week, Matt Eichhorn had another big game as the 6-0 Blue Devils return to action at 7:30 p.m. next Friday with South Harrison rolling into town.

The Blue Devils, who got a game-high 104 yards rushing on nine carries from Jaiden Smith before he was carried off the field late in the third quarter by a couple of teammates, used a defensive play to score the only six-pointer of the first half.

SMHS, which managed just two first downs in the opening half and trailed the total yards battle 79-64, finally dented the scoreboard at 9:49 of the second. Magnolia, which dropped to 2-6 and plays host at 7 p.m. next Friday to rival Tyler Consolidated, tried a trick play with Dakota Litton throwing near his own end zone back across the field.

However, Blue Devil defensive end Antone Herring managed to get a paw on the pigskin, looked up and cradled the ball in mid-air before strolling in 4 yards for the TD.

Although St. Marys was unable to take advantage of a fumble recovery by Eichhorn in the first half, the Blue Devil defense turned it up a notch after Pat Mirandy hit Gage Adams for a 36-yard gain. Despite having the ball first-and-10 at the Blue Devil 16, the drive eventually stalled on downs as Isaac Mooney batted down a pass intended for Brooks Parsons in the end zone.

Hunter Partridge, who led the visitors with 14 rushes for 22 yards but left the game in the second half with a leg injury, forced a fumble to open the second half and teammate Sebastian Stickler recovered. However, Herring had a key sack on Mirandy and the Blue Eagles turned the ball over after a pass fell incomplete on fourth-and-7 from the SMHS 34.

Smith proceeded to go on a 50-yard romp and would’ve scored had it not been for the speed of Parsons. Nonetheless, Eichhorn scored his first touchdown of the night on a 4-yard bootleg keeper and it was 14-0 midway through the third after Robbie Gonzalez was true on another extra point.

Partridge left on the next series and Gray batted down one of his three passes at the line of scrimmage to force a fourth down. However, Parsons faked the punt and raced 16 yards for a first down, but Magnolia couldn’t do anything.

Smith later had a 32-yard run before aggravating a previous ankle injury and Eichhorn scored from the 1 to make it 21-0 early in the fourth.

Following a MHS three-and-out, again after a Gray batted down pass on third down, Eichhorn raced 64 yards to paydirt out of the shotgun on first down as Derick Smith provided some key downfield blocking.

Leo Herrick fielded the ensuing kickoff and pitched it back to Parsons, who proceeded to race up the right seam for an 88-yard kickoff return. The kick failed and the Blue Eagles trailed 28-6 with 9:15 to play.

Gray tacked on the final six-pointer of the night when he bulled in from the 2 on the next drive, which included a 20-yard scamper by William Steele and a 5-yard tote by Zac Long.

After the break, the Blue Eagles were held to negative 20 yards of total offense as SMHS finished with a 295-59 edge in that department. Magnolia rushed 29 times for 5 stripes and Eichhorn rushed eight times for 103 yards and hit 4 of 7 passes for 30 yards. Gray (2-21) and Dalton Houser (2-9) had the receptions.

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