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Malden Green Wave face season-ending loss to Crystal City Hornets
CRYSTAL CITY, Mo. - In the first round of District play, the Malden Green Wave faced off against the Crystal City Hornets.
Crystal City walked away with a 36-8 victory to cap off Malden’s first season with Coach Treston Pulley.
Despite their season coming to a close, Malden was able to secure their first win in three years under Pulley’s leadership.
The scoring in this game started with a 15 yard touchdown pass from Crystal City’s senior Nolan Eisenbeis to Skyler Fowler. This gave Crystal City a 8-0 lead in the opening minutes following the two-point conversion.
The Hornets went up 14-0 in the second quarter off of a pick six by Eisenbeis.
Malden would cut down the two possession lead with their first touchdown of the game in the second quarter.
Kannon Brown, a freshman, found his junior receiver Tristin Moncrief. Moncrief was able to break a couple tackles and run into the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown. The two-point conversion scored by Brown made the game 14-8.
With 13 seconds left in the first half, Crystal City would score another touchdown. The 20-yard pass was caught by London Patton to extend the lead to 22-8 heading into halftime.
The Hornets would halt Malden from scoring in the second half while tacking on two more touchdowns.
Eisenbeis would finish the game 5 for 9, passing for 60 yards and two touchdowns. He also had 93 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns.
The Green Wave will finish their season with a 1-9 record.
Considering the record, Malden still had some players shine through en route to the best season Malden has experienced since 2021.
Tylyne Mathies had 348 receiving yards and caught five touchdowns this season in his senior year. Along with Mathies, Moncrief had 231 receiving yards and two touchdowns while Dyentez Dobbins recorded 223 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns.
Moncrief also led the entire Semo conference in yards on kickoff returns. With 326 total yards, he was 52 yards ahead of the next leading returner.
Zion Bell was ranked as one of the conference's top defensive players. He finished the season with over 100 tackles, including 6 tackles for loss. He also forced four fumbles and picked up one fumble this year. Dobbins and Damien Annesser also helped in Malden’s defensive efforts. Annesser had 68 tackles, two forced fumbles and an interception. Meanwhile, Dobbins recorded 55 tackles and four interceptions this season.
With this win, Crystal City will move on in the Class 1 Football tournament and face Charleston in the next round of play. The Hornets will host this game as well which is set to play on Nov. 15 at 7 p.m.