Tale of two halves: Clay-Battelle ramps up defensive effort in second half of 36-22 victory over Magnolia
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NEW MARTINSVILLE – No. 13 Clay-Battelle ended the 2026 regular season on a five-game winning streak on Friday with a 36-22 road victory over Magnolia.
C-B senior quarterback Corey Coen rushed for two touchdowns and threw for another, totaling 228 total yards in the contest. The Cee-Bees scored four times on the ground, with junior Caleb Hall adding the other two touchdowns.
Coen connected with fellow senior Cody Clovis on a 37-yard touchdown pass for the lone score through the air.
It was truly a tale of two halves for Clay-Battelle against Magnolia.
The Cee-Bees trailed 14-8 in the second quarter before Clovis’s touchdown gave them a 16-14 lead entering halftime. They then outscored Magnolia 20-8 in the second half (including three straight scores) to pull ahead down the stretch.
C-B head coach Aaron LaPoe credited his defensive players and staff for their adjustments in the second half.
"We basically lined up incorrectly on defense the entire first half," LaPoe said. "And it was a slim margin, like a player needing to just move like eight inches or like half of a gap to force a double team. We fixed that, and our leaders like Caleb Snodgrass and Caleb Hall did a great job of helping keep everybody on the same page in the second half."
Magnolia earned 20 first downs to C-B's 13 and outgained the Cee-Bees 358 to 280 offensively.
LaPoe's team settled in during the second half and got the job done, improving to 7-3 as they await their Class A playoff seeding.