MALDEN -- After a mistake prone first half, Malden was perfect in the second, as least as far as the scoreboard is concerned.
The Green Wave ran into the end zone on every second-half possession as they beat East Prairie 56-23 to advance to the MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 championship Friday at Caruthersville.
"We've been kind of waiting for nine weeks to have our shot at a district title, whoever we had to play. We've improved each week, we feel like, and now it is just a matter of preparing like a champion, whoever we have to face, Caruthersville included," Malden coach Kevin Collier said.
Tray Stevenson finished with 274 yards on 31 carries and six touchdowns for Malden. The senior running back now has a school-record 2,422 yards and 38 touchdowns for the season.
"It starts with the O-line again. They are just making me better and I just keep running hard," Stevenson said.
Stevenson also had 289 yards and four touchdowns against East Prairie earlier in the season, which means 23 percent of his yards and more than a quarter of his touchdowns have been against the Eagles.
But even he took a little while to get going on the a cold October night.
Malden's first two drives went backwards. Eight minutes into the game, the Green Wave had minus-15 yards of offense.
Malden (10-1) moved the ball fine after that, but struggled with penalties and fumbles. It finished with four fumbles, one of them for a turnover, and committed 133 yards in penalties.
"We spent a lot of time in second-and-17 and that sort of thing because of fumbles and penalties that hurt us. It was a matter of keeping on, keeping on, so to speak. Eventually the good stuff would start to happen," Collier said.
East Prairie (5-6) wasn't faring any better. Every Eagle drive in the first half lasted three plays or less, including a 93-yard touchdown drive that immediately followed Malden's only lost fumble. Even counting that drive, East Prairie had just 71 yards of offense in the first.
Stevenson finished a 46 yard, three play drive with a 13-yard touchdown run to break the scoreless tie. Midway through the second quarter, he raced up the left sideline, broke a tackle near the 10-yard line, hurdled a diving tackle attempt and galloped in for a 37-yard score to send Malden into the locker room ahead 14-7. Of Malden's 191 yards of offense in the first half, Stevenson had 142.
The Green Wave talked, and the coaches decided to just be patient.
"Halftime we had a good talk. We came out with the fire and did what we do best," Stevenson said.
Malden got a touchdown on all six second-half drives. Even on the drive where two different touchdowns were called back because of penalties, Malden eventually punched it in.
"It is pretty frustrating to take six or eight plays to score inside the 10," Collier said. "That's frustrating. In a game like a district championship, you just can't do that. Possessions are crucial and very valuable."
Quarterback Mason Brown ran for 79 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. The bulk of that on a read option late in the fourth quarter where Brown ran untouched around the end for a 56-yard score.
He also found Shay Amoss on a middle screen in the third quarter and Amoss ran for a 14-yard touchdown pass.
East Prairie turned it over on its first two possessions of the second half to fall into a hole rather quickly.
The Eagles fumbled their first play of the half, and Stevenson was in the end zone two plays later.
Then Brown picked off a deep pass and returned it all the way, but the pick-6 was called back for a block in the back. Malden still went 44 yards in five plays for another touchdown drive.
Up seven points at halftime, Malden was up 28 just 4 minutes into the third quarter. Malden finished plus-2 on turnovers with three forced fumbles and an interception.
Malden scored five touchdowns in the third quarter and Stevenson's 9-yard touchdown run early in the fourth started the running clock.
"We knew once we kind of figured out what they were doing defensively, our lineman started settling in to seeing something a little different than we expected," Collier said.
Malden finished with 478 total yards to East Prairie's 251. The team averaged 8.13 yards per rush. Malcolm McBride averaged 11.42 yards per carry to lead the team and finished with 80 yards on seven carries.
East Prairie quarterback Carson Aycock was 11 for 22 passing for 204 yards. Luke Marcum had two catches for 108 yards, including a 72-yard catch where he was tackled short of the goalline. Derez Tipler added four catches for 54 yards and Mason Bryars had three catches for 50 yards. Each had a catch go for longer than 40 yards.
Brian Shoffner and Aycock each had seven carries to lead the team. Shoffner had 31 yards and a touchdown while Aycock had 16 yards and a touchdown.