Pictured is #22 Brad Price
The old saying goes “get knocked down once, get up twice”. When it comes to Magazine Sr High football, getting knocked down isn’t something they’re used to. After only falling to non-conference opponent Mansfield and conference foe Bigelow, the Rattlers have run rampant over their 2020 competition. So when Magazine walked onto the field for their Round 1 State Playoff game against the Hazen Hornets, they expected to merely blow through the competition. They found out rather quickly though in the first half of the game that this wasn’t going to be the case. But there’s always a flip side to the coin and that other side is what makes good teams great.
The first two quarters of the match was like a bad dream for the Rattlers. A little under seven minutes into the first quarter, Hazen delivered their first TD of the game. Although there were some great tackles laid down by Dosson Littleton, William King, Austin “KABOOM” Krigbaum, Cole Gilbert, Cameron Mattson, Brad Price, and Cameron Raggio, it wasn’t enough to stop the Hornets from putting two more TD’s on the board by the final one minute mark in the second quarter, leading 22-0. After a quick come to life spark by the Rattlers with six seconds left in the first half, a Tatum Scott pass to Ashton Droemer for a 31-yard TD lit the lights up on the Magazine side to send the game into halftime 22-6 Hazen.
Magazine wasn’t expecting this, not at all. The Rattlers walked into halftime being outplayed on both sides of the ball. While the Hornets came out of halftime confident that they had stung their way to the first round of State Playoff win, the Rattlers came back out on the field ready to prove that their venom may be slow-moving, but given time, very lethal. As the wind picked up and a cold drizzle began to fall, a hard chill started to make its way through the Magazine fans. Not wanting to let their community freeze, the Rattlers started the second half of the game by lighting a fire on the field so big that the heat could be felt for miles. At 6:32 in the third, Droemer ran for a 3-yard TD, and coupled with a Scott to Raggio PAT, Magazine was quickly catching up to the Hornets with a score of 22-14 Hazen. The Hornets started to panic when on their next possession, not only was each attempted play met with a Rattler waiting to strike but after Droemer broke up a Hornet pass, Magazine gained control of the ball again placing them back in the driver’s seat.
With three minutes left in the 3rd, the Rattlers tied up the game with a 6-yard Droemer TD along with a PAT pass from Scott to “KABOOM” Krigbaum and the game sat at 22-22 to end the quarter. With the 4th quarter, all that remained for Magazine and Hazen was the time to determine who was hungrier for this first round of State victory. The Rattlers proved that not only were they hungrier, but their hunger was a pure appetite for destruction. The 4th quarter was comprised of not one but two Hazen fumbles and not one, not two, but three Rattler TDs dispatched by Price for a 20-yard reception, Faughn for a 43-yard run, and Scott for a 15-yard run. Add in the PATs by Droemer and Scott and the Magazine Rattlers finished the match with a final winning score of 44-22 spearheading them into the second round of State.
And the cherry on top of this victory sundae was Kobe Faughn adding 202 rushing yards from Friday’s game to his personal record giving him a total of 1546 rushing yards and breaking the school record which was 1482 held by Faughn’s football coach, Ryan Chambers. Scott finished the game with 35 passes for 59 yards and 2 TDs, 10 rushes for 52-yards and 1 TD, and 8 tackles. Along with the 202-yards from 21 rushes, Faughn also got 1 TD and 12 tackles. Droemer earned 18 rushes for 144 yards and 2 TDs, 1 reception for 31 yards and 1 TD, and 3 tackles. Price made 3 rushes for 53 yards, 1 reception for 20 yards and 1 TD, and 6 tackles.
Raggio got one 8-yard reception and 3 tackles. Haugh made 1 rush for 5 yards and 7 tackles. Mattson secured 6 tackles. Gilbert earned 4. King made 5. And Trace Nicolas, Dosson Littleton, and “KABOOM” Krigbaum combined for 7 tackles. For Round 2 of the 2A State Playoffs, Magazine will welcome the formidable Foreman Gators to the Snake Pit on November 20 at 7 pm.
