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NORTH MANCHESTER - Looking to put last week’s tough loss to Bluffton behind them, the Manchester football team refocused on Three Rivers Conference play with a home contest against Wabash on Friday. A big first quarter by the Squires was the key as the team went up by multiple scores early and didn’t look back. By the time the Apaches were able to get going, it was far too late. Manchester remains undefeated in the TRC after winning 47-19.
Even with a four-score victory, head coach Brian Enyeart seemed like he wanted to see more from his team.
“These kids have the goal of winning the conference. We played really well in spurts tonight, but we still haven’t played a full 48 minutes this year,” he said. “We can’t have these lulls where we look great for five minutes and then we take three off. That’s not how you win football games consistently.”
The Squires began the game by dominating all three phases. On special teams, a pair of long kicks by Carson Heath put the Apaches deep in their own territory. Defensively, the home team started the contest on fire. Wabash did not record a single first down in the opening quarter, going three-and-out twice and turning it over on downs.
Offensively, Manchester looked like a well-oiled machine. It helped that all three first-quarter drives began in Wabash territory, but the way the home side was operating, it didn’t matter where they started. Halfback Maddux Greer scored two touchdowns in the first, one from 17 yards out and the other from 15 yards away. The latter score was incredibly impressive, as he used a well-timed stutter step to turn what should have been a loss into a TD.
The second quarter began with the Squires in the red zone once again after a couple of touches by Reiss Gaerte moved the chains and continued the onslaught. Eventually, faced with a goal-to-go situation, it took four plays for the offense to hit paydirt again, and they’d do it on a run by quarterback Dallas Martin, who found the edge on a bootleg.
That play came at a cost though, as Wabash linebacker Jacob White got tangled up with one of his own players and suffered a gruesome leg injury while trying to get to Martin. The game would be delayed for a half hour while White was tended to and eventually taken off the field in an ambulance.
“Your thoughts go to the player when something like that happens. These kids are out here playing a sport they love and when something like that happens it's just horrible,” Enyeart said. “You gotta stay together as a team when you see that, we had to regroup and refocus.”
Even while dealing with the horrific loss of their teammate, the Apache offense seemed to come alive following the delay. Doing a majority of the damage through the air, the visitors finally got onto the board when quarterback Haiden McWhirt found DaVon Osborne for a 27-yard touchdown.
Just three plays later, it would be answered. Reiss Gaerte found a hole, raced past the secondary and was gone en route to a 57-yard touchdown that made it four scores on the first four drives of the game for the Squires. That ended up being the final score of the half, as both quarterbacks threw interceptions on their final drives of the game. At the break, Manchester led 26-7.
Manchester senior quarterback Dallas Martin turns the ball upfield after shaking off a Wabash would-be tackler...Nieter
Despite beginning the quarter by getting the ball and finding the end zone once more on a 23-yard run by Gaerte, the third quarter was a sloppy one for the Squires. The team fumbled the ball three times and lost two of them, one on the kickoff that followed a Wabash touchdown, and the other to end a good looking drive in Apache territory.
Even with the two turnovers, Manchester held onto a 20-point lead as the third quarter began and had the ball on the Wabash side of the field. They had been in complete control from the opening play of the game and were now just 12 minutes from putting the finishing touches on a win.
Just over a minute into the fourth quarter, Greer made it a hat trick, breaking free and scoring from 16 yards out. Martin, who had been doing one heck of a job running with the football all night long, was especially effective on this drive. The senior, who had taken his first snaps at QB last year due to two separate injuries, looked comfortable running the option offense.
“He got some hard yards for us tonight, he’s still working on his reads but I like the way he’s progressing,” Enyeart said.
The result of the game was already determined by this point, but Wabash refused to lay down in the fourth. The visitors responded to the touchdown by marching down and scoring their third touchdown of the game. The big play of the drive was a 30-yard run by Noah Baldwin.
It took less than three minutes for Manchester to answer the score with one of their own. This time it was Gaerte finding the end zone for the third time to make it 47-19 with five minutes left for good measure. It was the final score of the night.
Manchester (2-1, 2-0 TRC) are at Lewis Cass next week.
“They’re going to be physical. We went over there last year and beat ‘em so I know they’re going to be ready,” Enyeart said. “We’re going to be ready too.”
