Frontier’s Caleb Kirkpatrick (4) follows a blocker during Friday’s game against Magnolia in New Matamoras. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

NEW MATAMORAS — The Frontier Cougars celebrated their homecoming in style Friday as they overcame a 10-point half time deficit and went on to down the Magnolia Blue Eagles 34-22.

Cougar junior Austyn Kephart scored three touchdowns and went over the 100-yard mark in both rushing and receiving as Frontier snapped a two-game losing streak and picked up victory number three on the season.

“It was kind of a similar story as last year against Magnolia only with a better ending,” said Cougar head coach Damon Metheney, whose Cougars fell to Magnolia last year 34-32. “We made a couple of adjustments and I’m just so proud of the guys for sticking it out and overcoming the adversity.”

Frontier completely dominated the first quarter and appeared on their way to a possible rout over the winless Eagles.

The Cougars took the opening drive and marched 55 yards on nine plays with quarterback Aaden Bills finishing things off with a 4-yard touchdown run.

Frontier’s Austyn Kephart (20) runs with the ball during Friday’s game against Magnolia in New Matamoras. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Magnolia’s opening drive stalled right away and the Cougars got the ball back near midfield.

A 34-yard pass from Bills to Kephart got the drive started and later Kephart scored his first touchdown of the game on a 3-yard run to increase the Cougar lead to 12-0.

Frontier ran 15 plays from scrimmage in the opening quarter while the Blue Eagles would run just four.

Things would change and change in a big way in the second quarter as Magnolia completely dominated behind the hard-nosed power running of senior Hunter Cooley.

All told in the second quarter Cooley carried the ball 11 times for 119 yards and three touchdowns as the Blue Eagles turned what was a 12-point deficit into a 10-point lead at the break.

Cooley was a handful to bring down as his power running was tough for the Cougars to contain.

“He (Cooley) is a very hard runner and probably one of the hardest runners we have seen all year,” said Metheney. “We knew they were going to run that overload and run right at us and it was up to us to decide if we were going to stop it or not.”

With momentum squarely on the Eagles side at the intermission, the Cougars needed a huge defensive stop to start the second half and they were able to do just that.

Cooley picked up right where he left off in the first half with a pair of long runs but all of the sudden the Cougar defense came to life as they stopped him for no gain on back to back carries.

Facing a fourth down inside the Cougars 15-yard line, Eagles quarterback Finn Loy’s pass attempt on fourth down was incomplete, giving the Cougars the ball back at their own 12-yard line.

On the very first play from scrimmage Bills handed the ball to Kephart on an end around and the Frontier junior broke free and then out-ran everyone down the sidelines for an 88-yard touchdown run.

“We really needed to get something done really bad after the way we ended the first half,” said Kephart. “We just felt like we are not going to lose this and came out and got the job done.”

The Cougars went for the two point conversion and Kirkpatrick scored to cut the lead to 22-20.

After stopping Magnolia in the red zone on their previous possession the Cougar defense seemed to be really gaining some confidence in the second half.

They forced the Eagles to punt again and a 29-yard punt by Magnolia gave them the ball on the Eagle 44-yard line.

After Bills was sacked by the Magnolia defense on first down, the Cadets answered to regain the lead on a beautifully thrown 48-yard touchdown from Bills to Kephart who raced into the end zone to give the Cougars a 28-22 lead.

Frontier got a huge insurance score in the final period and once again it was Kephart setting things up.

Another end around midway through the fourth quarter to Kephart turned out to be the right call as he once again broke free and this time he went some 64 yards to move the ball inside of the red-zone.

After another Frontier penalty moved the ball back five yards to the 16, Kirkpatrick took the very next snap on a wildcat and raced 16 yards into the end zone to give the home team a bit of breathing room.

After being torched for the three touchdowns in the second quarter the Cougar defense rose to the occasion in the second half as they did not allow another point.

Amazingly Kephart did all of his damage by touching the ball just seven times in the game.

He carried the ball three times for 155 yards while hauling in four receptions for 120 more.

“This is a really good group and I’ve got a lot of great teammates around me,” said Kephart. “I can’t thank my coaches enough for giving me the opportunity and God, the man himself, because I wouldn’t be here without Him.”

Metheney has seen glimpses all season long of what kind of talent he has in Kephart.

“He’s a very coachable kid and busts his tail everyday,” said Metheney of Kephart. “He’s very talented and very fast and he gives us max effort every single game.”

Bills completed 6-of-10 pass attempts for 150 yards in the game.

Kirkpatrick had a solid night for the Cougars as he carried the ball 13 times for 78 yards.

Cooley fell just shy of 200 yards in the game by carrying the ball 26 times for 194.

The win was the third of the season for the Cougars and keeps their postseason hopes alive.

“Technically if we win out we have like a 90 percent chance to make the playoffs,” said Metheney, whose team closes with games against Shenandoah and River at home. “It’s do or die, our backs are against the wall but we still are in a position to do what we wanted to all along and that is make the playoffs.