Magnolia is still looking for their first win of the season after traveling to Hannibal, Ohio to take on the River Pilots on Friday night September 10, at Martin Flannery Field at River High School.

The River Pilots came into the night’s game with three wins under their belts, and ranked 4th in Division 6 Region 23. The Blue Eagles had high hopes in preseason scrimmages but have found the 2026 season not in their favor with injuries and miscues on the playing field. On this night they stood with no wins so far this season.

In the coin toss Magnolia chose to receive and River chose the north end zone to defend.

Magnolia’s Coach Mason started a new quarterback in this game, with freshman Brycen Postlethwait getting the call. In their first possession the Eagles moved the ball down the field with running backs, Kaden Hall and Eathan Harlen showing speed and the ability to break tackles, to gain yardage. They managed to move the ball from the 30-yard line down into River Territory to the 23-yard line. However the drive stalled when River’s Peyton Weese intercepted Postlethwait’s pass and the Pilots took over at their 20-yard line. On the second play from scrimmage River senior running back Wyatt Stalder found his way through Magnolia’s line, and carried the ball 54 yards for the first Pilots touch down, with 4:32 left in the quarter. The extra point was good and the score stood at 7-0 River.

The Eagles got the ball back and once again looked like they could move the ball down field behind the running of Harlen. The Blue Eagles drove from their own 39 to the 33 yard line when the quarter ended. Magnolia picked it right back up at the start of the second quarter and drove to the 1 yard line, but was backed up to the seven on a loss, however on the next play a penalty gave them the ball at the four yard line. They failed to punch it in and River took over at the five. On the first play Stalder broke free and rambled 95 yards for the score making it 14-0 after the kick.

River, after scoring, kicked the ball to the Eagles. An inadvertent touch of the ball by Magnolia was recovered by River’s Peyton Weese. On the next play he rambled into the end zone from 25 yards out to make it 20-0 with six minutes left before halftime. The PAT failed.

Magnolia was unable to make any progress when they got the ball back. River took over and sophomore QB Cam Abbot found receiver Conner Miller, who went in for six more. The Pilots went for two but the conversion failed and the score stood at 26-0.

In the second half, Postlethwait’s pass was intercepted by River senior Evan Longwell. Abbot managed to move the Pilots down field. But on the goal line, on fourth down, his efforts failed and the Blue Eagles took over the ball on the 6-inch line. Magnolia was unable to make much down field progress and turned over the ball.

On River’s next possession Abbott hit Crestyn Isaly for 23 yard T.D. strike making it 33-0 after the PAT.

River kicked the ball to Magnolia and the runner fumbled the ball allowing the Pilots to recover. Abbot tried to make the pass to the end zone but failed on his first attempt. But a pass from the eight-yard line to Evan Longwell finished the scoring for River at 40-0. In the 4th quarter the Blue Eagles Managed to cross into the end zone from the one yard line with runner Ethaniel Harlen getting the score. The two-point conversion was successful making the score River 40 and Magnolia 8.

Magnolia Coach Craig Mason: ” We were really excited with how we started the game from a physicality standpoint in our run game. We controlled the clock with two long drives to start the game and had 1st and goal from the one yard line part way through the 2nd quarter to punch it in and tie the game or potentially take the lead with a 2-point conversion. We weren’t able to punch it in unfortunately and the next play went for a long TD the other way. We knew Rivers’ size and speed coming into the game and we had a hard time handling them in space. They are a talented team full of high level senior athletes but our young guys went toe to toe with them physically and we were really happy with that. We turned the ball over twice on kick returns and gave them the ball back without our offense stepping on the field which was backbreaking. The halftime score wasn’t indicative of how the game played out. We are optimistic that if we can get some guys back from injuries that have been out and our run game can be as physical as we were Friday night, that it will bode well in the coming weeks.”

River Coach Mike Flannery: ” It started out like a good old fashioned rivalry match up tonight. Magnolia was able to find some holes in our defensive pressure scheme and grind out some yardage on the ground. They kept the ball out of our hands for the first 7 minutes of the game. We made a couple quick adjustments defensively and settled in and were able to get off the field. I was really happy with that goal line stand on their second drive.

I thought our kids showed some real heart and pride defensively. Offensively we took care of business up front and got extremely efficient performance out of our running backs early that allowed us to work on some things in the passing game. We were able to get some rhythm and hook up for some great yardage.

This was a good win for us in one of those rivalry atmospheres that showcased what I thought was a very physical contest. I give Magnolia credit. They showed up ready to get after it. I felt like there was a lot of pride in the air tonight on both sides of the field. I don’t think we could have asked for a better evening to remember the 25th anniversary of 9/11/.”

Magnolia Stats: Ethaniel Harlan 92 yards on 17 carries and a TD; Cayden Hall 18 carries for 46 yards, Brody Vargo one carry for 16 yards; and Brycen Postlethwait one carry for a yard. Team yardage was 151 on 37 carries.

Postlethwait was 3-6 passing for 31 yards. Vargo had one catch for 16 yards and Skelley 1 catch for 15 yards.

River Stats: Passing 11-16 for 235 yards and three Touchdowns; Rushing 5 carries for 199 yards and two T.D.’s

Wyatt Stalder two carries 149 yards and two TD’s; Trey Larrick one carry for 11 yards; Peyton Weese two carries for 39 yards

Evan Longwell six catches for 111 yards and a TD; Conner Miller two catches for 52 yards and a TD; Crestyn Isaly two catches for 45 yards and a TD.