Manchester’s Ronnie Elam fields a punt early in action last Friday as the Greyhounds hosted the Sciotoville East Tartans. Elam and his explosive quickness and elusiveness has been one of the key reasons the Greyhounds have averaged over 28 points a game through four weeks. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Tartans hand Manchester a 40-28 defeat
Manchester quarterback Leland Horner looks for an open receiver in action from the Greyhounds’ 40-28 loss to Sciotoville East on September 13. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Manchester’s Amillion Brown (7) lays the hammer on an East ball carrier in action from last Friday night at Veterans Stadium. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Riding high with two wins in their first three outings of the 2024 season, the Manchester Greyhounds played host to the Sciotoville East Tartans on Friday, September 13 in a contest played under cloudy skies and a sprinkle from the sky for the first half. In the history of the Manchester football program, the Hounds have never defeated the Tartans and hopes were high that the trend would be broken on Homecoming Friday night at Veterans Stadium, but things didn’t go the way of the home as they fell into a deep first half hole due to their own mistakes (fumbling away four onside kicks) and though they mounted a valiant comeback, it was East keeping their “unbeaten against Manchester” streak alive, leaving town with a 40-28 triumph.
“They kept stealing possessions from us with the onside kicks and we should have been able to get those,” said Manchester head coach Nick Neria on the field after the loss.
It was a unique offensive game for the visitors as every one of their offensive yards came on the ground and that onslaught began on the opening drive of the game as they went 50 yards, getting an 11-yard touchdown run from Amani Brown. After a holding penalty, the two-point try failed and the Tartans had a 6-0 lead less than two minutes into the opening period.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Manchester misplays began as the onside attempt East’s Hayden Conkel was fumbled by the Hounds’ return team, giving East the ball back on their own 45. In another drive of all running plays, the Tartans took less than three minutes to add to their lead, getting a four-yard scoring run from Brown and a two-point run from Jimmy McGraw to make it 14-0.
After another onside kick was misplayed by the Greyhounds, the Tartans took possessions at the Greyhound 44 and facing a fourth and two on the Manchester 18, East was aided by an encroachment call against the Manchester line. They quickly capitalized, getting a four-yard TD run from Keagan Barker and after a failed conversion try, had a big 20-0 first quarter advantage. The Greyhounds finally managed to hang on to a kickoff long enough to get their offense on the field. Taking over at their own 33, the Hounds got a nice 22-yard run from Mason Gilliam but the drive stalled and ended in a turnover on downs.
Late in the first quarter, the Manchester defense forced an East fumble, recovered by the Hounds’ Leland Horner. A 19-yard pass completion from Horner to receiver Ronnie Elam moved the Hounds into East territory and it looked like they had broken through when Gilliam grabbed a screen pass and raced 36 yards to the house but the play was nullified by a penalty call. The Hounds overcame the penalty when Horner hit Elam on a 17-yard scoring pass and when Horner took across the two-point try, the home side was on the board and trailed 20-8 with 11:23 left in the first half.
The next East possession ended in a turnover on downs and the Greyhound offense was back on the field, starting at their own 38. A fourth down run by Gilliam resulted in a first down and a pass to Elam converted on another fourth down as the pass slipped through the East defender’s hands and right into Elam’s grasp for a 29-yard pickup. Horner then found an open Elam in the corner of the end zone for a 13-yard scoring strike and when the two-point failed, the Tartan’s lead was cut to 20-14, which is how the first half ended.
Receiving the second half kickoff, the Greyhounds had hopes of taking that opening possession and forging at least a tie, and it looked like that might be the case as a pair of East penalties on the same play set the home team up at the Tartan 11-yard line. The East defense rose to the occasion and picked off a Horner pass in the end zone to snuff out the drive. Taking over then at their own 20, the Tartans put together an 80-yard, time-consuming drive that culminated in a 10-yard touchdown jaunt by Barker. The two-point try failed but the visitors had extended their lead out to 26-14 with 3:42 left in the third quarter.
The third stanza ended with the Manchester offense failing on a fourth-and-13 play and East getting the ball as the final quarter began. Run, run, run the Tartans did and again they ran it all the way to paydirt, scoring on Barker’s six-yard run to push the gap to 32-14.
Believe it or not, the Tartans then recovered another onside kick and this time made it costly for the Hounds. East’s Amani Brown scooped up the loose ball and returned it all the way for a touchdown in a play rarely seen in football at any level. Barker ran in the two-point try and the Tartans led comfortably 40-14 with 8:09 to play.
Credit to Coach Neria and his Greyhounds, however, as the fought back to score two touchdowns in that final eight minutes, but not until they lost another onside kick which allowed East to run more valuable time off the clock. The Tartans were forced to punt and Elam provided some instant excitement with a 55-yard put return that allowed his team to set up shop at the East 33. A 13-yard touchdown scamper around right end by Gilliam and a two-point conversion pass to Joel Blythe made it 40-22.
After the score, the hounds turned the tables and recovered an onside kick botched by the Tartans but gave it right back when Barker intercepted a Horner throw. The gift-giving continued when an East fumble was recovered by Elam and that resulted in a 19-yard scoring pass from Horner to Blythe, The two-point try failed and with just 1:26 to play, the Hounds still trailed 40-28. Manchester did get the ball back one more time and drove all the way to the East 5 but the clock ran out with the Hounds still searching for that elusive first win over Sciotoville East.
“We got down there in the second half and we didn’t give up,” said Coach Neria. “I was pleased that we continued to fight and we continued to put points on the board and I’d never be angry about that great effort.”
After three consecutive home dates, the now 2-2 Greyhounds are back on the road this Friday, facing the Miami Valley Christian Academy Lions, who are 1-3 on the season. Kickoff at MVCA is at 7 p.m.
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