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Magnolia tops Pendleton County despite poor conditions

FRANKLIN — Every play is magnified in a game where there is less than ideal field conditions.

That was certainly the case on Friday night on an extremely muddy field at Pendleton County but Magnolia made no excuses.

Instead, the Blue Eagles made several game-changing plays and walked away with a 28-6 victory against the Wildcats in the first round of the West Virginia Class A Playoffs.

A goal line stand by the defense and a pair of blocked punts led to 16 of the Blue Eagles points.

“The field was a mess,” Magnolia coach Dave ‘Doc’ Chapman said. “But I told the kids before the game to get it out of their minds because both teams have to play in it.

“(Pendleton County) is a good football team but we just made more plays than they did and that’s the difference in the game.”

Magnolia was also four hours from home, a journey that the team was proud to embark on.

“We decided we wanted to stay on a routine and play on Friday,” Chapman said.

“The kids wanted to play on Friday and credit them. It’s not easy to ride the bus for four hours but we broke the trip up and I think it helped us.”

The Blue Eagles advance to take on defending champion Wheeling Central next week in Wheeling, a Week 11 rematch that ended with Magnolia handing the Knights their only loss of the season.

“We’re playing pretty good football right now,” Chapman said.

“This is seven out of eight and I think we are playing our best football right now at the end of the year.”

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