Magnuson’s four TDs help Falcons open the season with a victory
Cy-Fair – Season opening wins have been hard to come by for the Jersey Village Falcons in recent years. They have endured six straight season opening losses dating back to 2005-06, starting with a 33-7 loss to Klein Forest. That streak included losses to Clear Lake, Deer Park, twice and last season to Tomball.
Clay Magnuson made sure Jersey Village would end a streak with the beginning of a something different, in cruising past the Tomball Cougars 36-7 Friday night at Pridgeon Stadium.
Magnuson was magnificent, going 13/16 with 179 yards and 67 on the ground, in directing the Falcons on four touchdown drives that reaped 25 first downs and accumulated 458 yards of total offense. Connor Neagli and Jamie Parker were on the receiving end of the touchdowns with two apiece.
Jersey Village first drive covered 69 yards, which watched Neagli make a great adjust in mid air to hall in an 11 yard TD catch with blanket coverage from Cougar’s cornerback Dmitri Scott.
After taking possession at their 41 yard line, Tomball used a ground attack, mostly keepers by quarterback Justin Dvorak to penetrate inside the seven yard line of the Falcons. One play later, Dvorak was dropped by Rashard Martin for a nine yard loss back at the 15 and intercepted on the following play by La Travien Gee in the end zone.
“There is nothing to be said, we got our butt kicked. You shut up and keep working. That’s why this is a great game, its great fir kids, it’s great for kids to learn to pick themselves up off the ground. It’s a life lesion and that’s what we will use it for”, said Tomball’s coach Tommy Kaiser.
The Cougars, fighting adversity from every side, was unable to get comfortable with Jersey Village defense lineman Eric Daniels powering his way through the offensive line for a couple of sacks along with other stops for no gain.
“I give the entire honor to God. I’ve been working since I was young. I know my technique. During boot camp we worked our tails off and we really wanted to be 1-0 to begin the season”, Said Eric Daniels, Jersey Village Defensive end.
Hunter Pullig’s 32 yard field goal gave the Falcons a 10-0 lead as the Cougars woes continued on the next series when Dvorak was sacked for a three yard loss by Daniels back at the 26 yard line and later dragged down by Darren Bradshaw at the 30 to force a punt.
Just after, Jersey Village put together a 10 play 71 yard drive capped off on Magnuson’s four yard toss to Neagli. If it wasn’t a punt, it was a turnover, each time the Cougars took two steps forward; they would then go three steps back. A fumble and a sack resulted in a loss of eight yards, stalling Tomball’s next two drives.
The Falcons added three more touchdowns in the second half; Jamie Parker caught two, one for 44 and another for 32 yards. Running back Victor Brown burned a 70 scoring yard run which gave him 247 yards on 18 carries.
“It was a big win, we hadn’t won a lot of ball games here lately”, said Jersey Village Coach, David Snokhous, and these kids have worked hard trying to change that and the momentum. Everything will be good come Tuesday, school spirit will be up, kids will better than what they have in a long time and they played well. It was a team effort, I was pleasantly surprised, and they played hard.