By Branden Wilt
bwilt@newstribune.info
Tribune Sports Editor

Keyser and Magnolia will square off in a David and Goliath matchup tonight in Morgantown, when the Blue Eagles travel to take on the Golden Tornado at the “New” University High School at 7:30 pm.
The second round AA matchup will feature the largest team in the AA classification taking on one of the smallest in Magnolia.
Keyser (10-0), the top seed, advanced easily by whalloping Wyoming East 47-0 in the initial round, while Magnolia, an eight seed, barely got by Point Pleasant 21-20 last Friday night.
Pt. Pleasant might not be Goliath, but he could have been his little brother as the school is the third-largest in the state behind Keyser and Herbert Hoover.
But Magnolia (8-3) head coach Mark Batton isn’t assuming this one will be that close.
“They have a lot of kids on that team (Keyser) that have played varsity for three or four years. (Matt) Wilmer and (Jeremy) Green were the backs against us in the playoff two years ago, and (Preston) Hartman was the quarterback.  (Taige) Redman was a guard and a linebacker. A couple of those kids have been starting for four years.
“They (Keyser) have been building towards this (year.) It is so nice to have kids with experience, you want to talk about a luxury, they have playoff experience too. This is a VERY veteran group of seniors (at Keyser.)”
Magnolia had to come from behind a week ago against the Big Blacks, and trailed 20-7 at halftime.
However, the Blue Eagles did a 180 out of the locker room, and held Point Pleasant to just 10 yards rushing and 46 passing in the final 24 minutes after amassing just 44 total yards itself in the initial half.
Magnolia’s leading rusher Stingray Bates lived up to having the best sports name in the tourney and put together a good all-around game last week.
Bates leads the Blue Eagles with 715 yards on 145 carries (5.0 avg) and has scored six rushing TDs. Dillon Jackson has added another 381 yards and five scores on the ground, and quarterback Justin Fox has only been able to average a yard a carry, but has scored six times with his legs.
Fox has used his arm to accumulate 15 more scores, and serves as the Blue Eagle kicker tacking on a trio of field goals and 28 PAT’s to accumulate 73 points.
Jason Utt has been Fox’s favorite target by far, catching 32 balls for 565 of Fox’s 1,366 yards this season. Fox has thrown 13 picks though.
Stingray will get the ball out of the I on offense, and Traeh Keller leads a defensive unit operating out of a 4-4 on most downs. Keller has accumulated 43 solo tackles and assisted on another 80 in 2008. Zach Neff has five sacks to lead Magnolia.
Bates anchors a defensive secondary that has produced 13 picks, and leads the team with three interceptions.
Keyser will turn to a defense that pitched another shutout last week and has averaged just 5.2 points against this season.
Keyser has allowed just 52 points in 10 games and is led by its heralded linebacking corp of Hartman, Redman, Wilmer and Joey Amtower- all sure bets to be playing on Saturdays next season.
Up front defensive tackles Brandon Wilson and Scott Kittrell have been getting a good push up the middle, with ends John Purdy and Chris Brown penetrating the backfield on the edge.
Senior defensive backs Jarell Ross and Green both had picks last week, the latter a pair. Junior R. C. Pratt filled in well for injured starter Brandon Barnett, who will sit again this week.
Barnett will be missed on the offensive side of the football as well, but is the only missing cog from a well-oiled Tornado machine.
Leading-rusher Wilmer reached the 1000-yard mark last week against Wyoming and had a pair of scores over 50-yards in his 174- yard performance, and Green racked up 109 yards on just four carries and caught a pair of touchdowns to go with a huge 90-yard run for score as he amassed 299 all-purpose yards on the night.
Hartman had a quiet performance, but still hooked up with Green twice in the end zone.
With Barnett banged up Ross will be looked to to fill in for the injured split end on offense.
Keyser’s offense is currently scoring an average of nearly 43 points a game, and the Golden Tornado have outscored their opponents 429 to 52.