Coach Craig Mason went into the season opener against the Frontier Cougars with optimism his team was ready to take on the 2026 season.

In a pre-game interview with the Cougars head Coach Damon Metheney, he was very positive in his thinking about his team and the season. They came off the season opener last week with a strong victory and had high expectations from his team in the game against the Blue Eagles.

Not long into the first quarter it was evident the Cougars had a strong front line and were able to control it. Cougar Quarterback Luke Mendenhall, and his explosive running back Austyn Kephart were what Coach Mason had expected after seeing last week’s game films. The combination of the two and the strong line gave them the opportunity to make big plays and score early and often throughout the game.

Coach Mason was pleased with the way his two young quarterbacks stepped in to fill the position of his starting quarterback after an injury last week during a scrimmage. Freshman Brycen Postlethwait and sophomore Drake Christen shared the ball handler job throughout the game, gaining valuable experience.

Magnolia’s first score came in the first quarter with 3:37 left on the clock. Cayden Hall carried the ball into the end zone on a four-yard run. An attempt on a two-point conversion failed, making the score Frontier 6 and Magnolia 6.

Neither QB had the full support of their offensive line, missed blocking opportunities gave the young QB’s a difficult challenge to overcome early in the season. Coach Mason and his staff will have to make sure those miscues don’t happen in the upcoming game against Wirt County.

Part of the problem with the team was the number of penalties. Lost yardage to the penalties kept the team from keeping yardage they had earned in previous plays. Coach Mason sees those mistakes partly because some of his veteran players were starting in new positions, and other positions being filled in by less experienced young players.

With only 1:24 left on the game clock, # 31 Zane Snyder was injured. As a precaution he was transported to the ER. After medical evaluation, Zane was released with full clearance.

Early in the third quarter the visitors had a 32-6 lead and scored two more times, before the Blue Eagles’s Jaxson Goddard took the ball into the end zone late in the game to make the final score Frontier 45 Magnolia 14.

The Blue Eagles will be back in action on Friday at 7 pm against Wirt County and the following week will travel across the river to play the River Pilots, to start four straight games on the road before returning home against St. Marys on October 16.