Manchester Earns TRC Win Over County Rival WabashNORTH MANCHESTER — Through the first two weeks of the season, the Manchester Squire football team showed fight, but could not quite make the last few hurdles to get in the win column.
With the in-county rivals Wabash Apaches in town, Manchester head football coach Greg Miller told his players earlier that they have dreamt for moments like this to play in front of a full house on their field.
“What are you going to do with it?” Miller asked his players.
The Squires responded.
Backed by two touchdowns from junior halfback Braxton Ream, the Manchester Squires held off a feisty Wabash team 21-14 in North Manchester Friday night.
“We got that monkey off our back!” Miller cheered after breaking out of the post-game huddle with his players.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Miller said. “And Wabash really gave it to us.”
Things were off to a slow start as each team traded punts in the first few minutes of the game.
On their second drive of the game, Manchester (1-2 overall, 1-1 TRC) was able to convert on third-down four times to earn their first points and lead of the game. The drive was capped by an eight-yard run by Ream.
Wabash (1-2 overall, 0-2 TRC) would even things up with three minutes to go until intermission. Senior quarterback Payton Sodervick found team-leading receiver Bryant Boggs for a 22-yard pass-and-catch. Boggs entered the game with just eight catches for 245 yards and two scores.
With momentum shifting, the Squires looked to conduct a two-minute drill in efforts to retake the lead. Senior quarterback Devin Marcum helped march the Squires downfield and would eventually find Kreeden Krull for a 10-yard score with just 42 seconds to go until half.
Manchester has held a halftime lead before, but they were unable to hold on to it later their first time against North Miami.
Neither side would score in the third quarter, but the Apaches would find the end zone again in the fourth. An acrobatic 23-yard reception by Boggs put Wabash at the Manchester one-yard line, and Kallen Kalsheimer would finish the drive with the short run to tie things up at 14.
Later, when the Squires attempted to punt the ball away, a minor penalty on Wabash brought them 5 yards closer to the first down marker, but it still seemed like a long way. Manchester’s special teams fooled everyone, as Marcum took the ball from the long snapper and lobbed it to a wide-open Krull to give themselves new life.
“We set the formation and told them what to look for,” Miller said. “They made that and converted that first down, and that was a big play for us and kept that momentum going.”
Marcum would later connect with senior wideout Trey Clark on a 52-yard pass play to set up a first and goal at the Apache five-yard line. A few plays later, Ream would get his second touchdown of the night — this time from two yards out.
Each side would trade fumbles with three minutes or less remaining in the game, but the Squires’ defense were able to hold off any late rally attempt by the Apaches.
Next week, the Squires will hit the road to face TRC opponent Rochester, who moved to 2-1, 2-0 in the TRC after its win over Whitko.
MANCHESTER 21, WABASH 14
W 0 7 0 7 – 14
M 7 7 0 7 – 21
M – Braxton Ream 8 run (Klayton Hendrix kick)
W – Payton Sodervick 22 pass to Bryant Boggs (Grant Carandante kick)
M – Devin Marcum 10 pass to Kreeden Krull (Hendrix kick)
