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After winning five games in 2024 under first-year coach Brian Enyeart, the Manchester football program took another leap last season, winning seven games, including an impressive 6-2 mark in the Three Rivers Conference. Despite graduating some key contributors on both sides of the ball, the Squires turn their eyes to 2026 with the goal of continuing to improve on the foundation laid before them.
“We just have to continue to buy into what we’ve been coaching. The first year, everything is all new, so everybody is just treading water, playing plain jane on offense and defense, and then last year, you’re able to add some more stuff,” Enyeart said. “This year, we’ve got pretty much 100% of it installed. Obviously you’re not going to run every play you have every week, but having those extra little wrinkles helps add an extra element to every play.”
There’s another type of wrinkle the Squires are already having to deal with before they even take the field for the first time this season, and it’s one the team and its fans have been quite familiar with over the past few seasons: the injury bug. Two players expected to be key contributors this season, QB/DE Aiden Bahney and HB/LB Bryson Enyeart both broke their ankles during baseball season. Bahney’s injury happened in the spring, and he’s expected to return at some point this season. Bryson however, got hurt over the summer and is expected to be out for the entirety of his junior season.
While not ideal, this is also not something the team is unprepared for. Manchester has had a lion’s share of injuries over the past few years, and Enyeart’s mantra of “next man up” has been put into practice more times than he’d probably like.
“You definitely have to move the pieces around a little bit when that happens, find places to put kids where they can succeed while also helping the team succeed,” he said. “But when you lose somebody, the next guy steps up. Even before this we lost our quarterback from last year, top running back, top receiver. We lost guys at every group. It's already been a crazy offseason in terms of plugging kids in to different spots and playing them, but we have a good group and they’re ready for all of it.”
Until Bahney is cleared, senior Cody Carroll will handle the quarterback duties, with freshman James Garber serving as his backup. Carroll played primarily at receiver last season, but according to Enyeart, has the athleticism and tools to thrive under center. Sam Winger and Maddux Greer provide senior leadership in the backfield, but are just two of 10 halfbacks listed on the roster. If the Squires are going to continue their trend of improvement, those runners are going to play a big part in carrying the team.
The team will hit the ground running on Friday night, opening up the season at home against TRC foe Northwestern. It’s the third season in a row that Manchester will begin the campaign against a conference opponent, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Enyeart is a fan of it.
“I hate starting off the year with a conference game because you’re still trying to find yourself as a team, you know? A scrimmage is one thing, you’re just running your basic vanilla stuff. But starting out with a conference game, when kids are still figuring out all of their roles, it’s difficult,” The Squire head man said. “But at the end of the day, it still comes down to who is going to execute best. When you start playing that game speed for the first time, everybody kind of panics for a second, but if you can get through that and get back to what you’re supposed to be doing, you’ll be in good shape.”
Manchester stays at home for its second game of the season against Tipton, the only nonconference opponent the red and black will face off against this year. This is followed by two trips to Wabash County to take on the Apaches and Northfield, with a home game against Lewis Cass sandwiched in between. The Squires then host Southwood and fellow area team Whitko before wrapping up the regular season with road games at Maconaquah and at Peru. The lone TRC team Manchester does not play this season is Rochester.
The schedule revolving so heavily around the conference could be a positive for the Squires, as the team is a combined 11-5 against the TRC over the past two seasons. According to Enyeart, the goal isn’t to hope to compete against the top teams in the conference, it’s to beat them.
“We’re going into every Friday night with the mentality that we’re there to win. We’re not trying to keep the game close, or hope that we can win. We want to take the field every Friday night with the attitude of ‘we are going to win this football game,’” he said.
