Manchester Academy’s Mavericks avenged their loss to St. Al from last year with a 35-7 victory over the Flashes on Friday night.
The win improved Manchester’s record on the season to 6-1.
According to Manchester Academy head football coach Bryan Dendy, it has been some time since the Mavericks began a season 6-1.
“It’s been a while since we started off 6-1,” Dendy said. “I’m not sure exactly how long it has been, but it’s probably been at least 10 years, maybe more.”
While the final score was pleasing to the Manchester faithful, the first quarter was not.
Manchester struggled to get going offensively, and they allowed St. Al to take a 7-0 lead.
In the second quarter, however, the Mavericks got back on track.
They pieced together some runs and made it into the end zone twice to capture a 14-7 lead heading into the half.
The third quarter was much more of the same from the Mavericks, as they scored two more rushing touchdowns to extend their lead over the Flashes to 28-7.
Manchester put the cherry on top of their win in the fourth quarter with one final rushing touchdown to push their lead to 35-7, which proved to be the final score of the contest.
Despite falling behind early, Dendy felt his team did a great job of keeping it together.
“We got down early, but we kept our composure,” Dendy said. “We kept to our plan of running the ball. We calmed down and finished the game.”
The Mavericks rushed for 302 yards on 56 carries.
Fouche rushed the ball 22 times for 126 yards and two scores in the win. Fouche also had four total tackles in the win.
Blayke Dendy was right behind Fouche with 10 rushes for 60 yards and two touchdowns. Dendy also had eight total tackles and a blocked kick.
Warner Griffin rounded out the top three in rushing with 56 yards on nine carries. Griffin also had eight total tackles.
Upton Hitt scored the fifth and final touchdown on a QB sneak. Hitt also went 3-for-4 through the air for 29 yards.
Link Greenlee caught one pass for 24 yards.
Taylor Porter racked up eight total tackles and a sack in the decisive victory.
Ty Kilpatrick had six total tackles and an interception.
Next up for the Mavs is Leake Academy.
The Rebels are 4-3 after falling to Heritage on Friday night.
Although Leake has a few losses, Denndy believes Leake’s record is misleading.
“Leake is a very good football team,” Dendy said. “They score a lot of points. Their defense will be ready. They’ve lost to some very good football teams, so they’re better than their record indicates. This will be their homecoming. It will be a very difficult game.”
Kickoff at Leake is set for 7 p.m.
