Magic fall apart in fourth quarter

HIDALGO — Through three quarters, the Rio Grande Valley Magic were doing what they wanted to against the Houston Stallions. The Magic led by nine points and looked poised to hand the Stallions their first loss of the season.

But the fourth quarter wiped out all of that.

Stallions quarterback Robert Kent threw for 242 yards and seven touchdowns while Timon Marshall had eight receptions for 133 yards and six TD catches to lead Houston to a 54-37 win over the Magic on Saturday night at State Farm Arena. The Magic led 37-28 through three quarters but were shut out in the final 15 minutes while Houston scored the game’s last 26 points to beat RGV for the third time in three meetings.

“We just made those mistakes that Houston was able to capitalize on,” Magic coach Schuyler Anderson said. “They’re a great team and through three quarters we battled hard and were able to win those quarters.

“One of the things we’ve been talking about is finishing, and we put three solid quarters together,” he added. “We came out in the fourth quarter and it looked like we got too lackadaisical overall.”

Kent and Marshall made the Magic pay for that.

They hooked up for two TD passes in the quarter while Kent had another to Damion Clark and added a 1-yard scoring run of his own. And while the Stallions offense got rolling, the Magic’s faltered. Quarterback Billy Garza was intercepted three times and was under pressure for most of the quarter.

Overall, it was not the end the Magic were looking for. They were also looking for why that happened.

“We just really need to get some more conditioning done off the field,” defensive lineman Brian Ellis said. “We’ve got a lot of good things going on but we just run out of steam a little bit. I think everybody just needs to step it up a little bit more.”

Because that didn’t happen, the Magic dropped their third straight and four of their first five. Despite that, Anderson is looking to build off some positives that emerged from Saturday night.

“Every game we’ve gotten better,” Anderson said. “We’ve got a young team, we’re building. We’ve got to overcome, play four quarters and finish the game. That’s all it boils down to, finish four quarters.”

FIRST DOWNS: “Krazy” George Henderson once again performed at the game. … Garza was the lone quarterback on the Magic’s roster Saturday night.

Brian Sandalow covers the Rio Grande Valley Magic for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4436.

Saturday’s Game

STALLIONS 54, MAGIC 37

Houston                         14    8    6  26   —  54

Rio Grande Valley         18    6  13    0   —  37

First Quarter

RGV — Ramonce Taylor 4 run (Leo Araguz kick no good), 9:15.

HOU — Timon Marshall 13 pass from Robert Kent (Jon Thompson kick no good), 7:17.

RGV — Travis McAlpine 7 pass from Billy Garza (Araguz kick blocked), 5:32.

HOU — Darvin Peterson blocked PAT return for 2-point conversion, 5:32.

HOU — Marshall 28 pass from Kent (Kent pass incomplete), 4:55.

RGV — Danny Young 16 pass from Garza (Araguz kick no good), 54.0.

Second Quarter

RGV — Young 4 pass from Garza (John Taylor run failed), 8:12.

HOU — Marshall 10 pass from Kent (Kent pass to Keivi Baker), 3:52.

Third Quarter

HOU — Marshall 14 pass from Kent  (Thompson kick no good), 14:24.

RGV — Dexter Anderson 2 pass from Garza (Araguz kick), 2:02.

RGV — McAlpine 18 pass from Garza (Araguz kick failed), 40.3.

Fourth Quarter

HOU — Marshall 25 pass from Kent (Kent pass incomplete), 13:25.

HOU — Damion Clark 42 pass from Kent (Kent run), 11:39.

HOU — Kent 1 run (Thompson kick no good), 6:59.

HOU — Marshall 13 pass from Kent (Thompson kick no good), 36.1.

TEAM STATISTICS

                                            HOU              RGV

First downs                              16                 16

Rushes-yards                      13-37              11-3

Passing yards                         242               210

Total offense                         279               213

Comp-Att-Int                    17-28-2         16-39-3

Fumbles                                  2-1                1-0

Penalties-Yards                   11-73            10-66

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Houston: Carlos Alsup 7-39; Kent 5-(-7), 1 TD; Kenyada Tatum 1-5. Rio Grande Valley: Taylor 1-4, 1 TD; Garza 7-(-12); John Taylor 1-1; Henderson 1-8; Young 1-2.

PASSING — Houston: Kent 17-28-2, 242 yards, 7 TDs. Rio Grande Valley: Garza 16-39-3, 210 yards, 5 TDs.

RECEIVING — Houston: Clark 3-65, 1 TD; Marshall 8-133, 6 TDs; Baker 3-14; Tatum 2-17; Alsup 1-13. Rio Grande Valley: Young 3-38, 2 TDs; McAlpine 7-79, 2 TDs; Taylor 4-82; Henderson 2-11, 1 TD.