NORTH MANCHESTER—On Senior Night at Manchester Jr.-Sr. High School, it was to be a special moment as members of the Class of 2019 would suit up for what could possibly be their last night in black and red on their home field.
A week after getting into an offensive bout with Tippecanoe Valley, the Squires wanted to turn the page and change their fortune.
For the visiting Whitko Wildcats, they came in to Friday night’s match still seeking their first football win since Oct. 21, 2016. They allowed 214 points in their combined six games this season while forcing only 30.
It was time to flip the script for both of these teams, but only one would emerge victorious.
After scoring 32 first-half points, more than they have put up all year, the ‘Cats got to play spoiler as they routed the Squires 46-28 Friday night in a Three Rivers Conference game.
“Before we came out in to the game, we talked to our guys about facing adversity, running it over, not letting it bother us, and they did that,” said Whitko head coach Jeff Sprunger. “They came out, they saw the adversity, we collected ourselves as a team and we came out offensively.”
From the very start, things looked great for coach Miller and the Squires (2-5 overall, 0-3 TRC).
On the opening kickoff, Manchester’s Tyce Rooney recovered a ball that bounced off of the chest of Whitko’s Brady Mitchell. A little over a minute later, senior halfback Delton Moore, who entered the game as a 1,000-yard rusher, found the end zone after a 17-yard scamper to open the scoring for the hosts.
Whitko (1-6 overall, 1-2 TRC) would answer back near the end of the first quarter, as senior fullback Zakk Neer punched it in from two yards out. The ‘Cats took the lead after freshman Cade Berg scored on a two-point conversion attempt. Berg led all Whitko rushers with 103 yards on 24 carries.
From there, the ‘Cats never looked back.
With their defense forcing a turnover-on-downs, Whitko spotted Man-chester another 24 points, capped by a couple of touchdown runs from junior Ashton Schuh and one from junior quarterback Dominic Moseley. A miscue by the Manchester punt team while pinned deep in their own territory resulted in a safety and another possession for the ‘Cats.
“We got down early, saw a spark right before the half, and then came out in the second half but we can’t make critical mistakes at inopportune times,” said Manchester H.S. head coach Greg Miller. “There were some penalties we should not have gotten, but we have got to put things together and put points up on the board.”
On top of their efforts on offense, the Whitko defense forced two fumbles—recovering both.
“Our defense fed off (of the offense) in the first half, and they shut them down then. In the second half, Manchester came out offensively and started doing what we knew they could do, so it became a foot race,” said Sprunger.
Both teams traded scores in each of the final two quarters of play, but the Squires were not able to surmount the margin.
With their first win under their belts, Sprunger looks to take that as momentum as they will host the Norsefield Norsemen next week.
As for Miller and the Squires, they will look for answers in their next matchup against the Rochester Zebras.
“We still have a lot of season left, and we are going to salvage what’s left of the season,” said Miller. “I’m still proud of our kids’ effort.”
WHITKO 46
MANCHESTER 28
W 8 24 6 8 – 46
M 6 8 6 8 – 28
W M
Rushing yds 280 172
Passing yds 0 121
Comp-Att-Int 11-24-1 10-26-1
Total yds 280 293
First Quarter
M – Delton Moore 17 run (PAT failed), 10:35, 6-0
W – Zakk Neer 2 run (Cade Berg 2 pt. conversion), 1:37, 8-6
Second Quarter
W – Ashton Schuh 36 run (Berg 2 pt. conversion), 11:14, 16-6
W – Safety, blocked punt in end zone, 9:52, 18-6
W – A. Schuh 13 run (Zach Gardner 2 pt. conversion), 8:38, 26-6
W – Dominic Moseley 6 run (PAT failed), 4:37, 32-6
M – Moore 14 run (Moore 2 pt. conversion), 1:25, 32-14
Third Quarter
M – Devin Marcum 27 pass to Seth Gaerte (PAT failed), 10:47, 32-20
W – D. Moseley 4 pass to C. Berg (PAT failed), 3:19, 38-26
Fourth Quarter
W – C. Berg 1 run (C. Berg 2 pt. conversion), 10:40, 46-20
M – D. Marcum 1 run (D. Marcum pass to S. Gaerte for 2 pt. conversion), 9:15, 46-28
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Whitko – Berg 24-103, Schuh 4-63, Gardner 11-55, Mosley 5-23, Neer 9-20, Riley Young 3-16; Manchester – Moore 20-153, Tyler Andritsch 2-12, Marcum 4-6, Gaerte 1-0.
Passing: Whitko – none; Manchester – Marcum 10-26-121, 1 TD, 1 Int.
Receiving: Whitko – none; Manchester – Trey Clark 3-42, Gaerte 2-31, T. Rooney 3-26, Mason Meyer 2-22
Records: Whitko 1-6 91-2 TRC), Manchester 2-5 (0-3 TRC)
