Greyhounds make more gridiron history

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

The gridiron history making for the 2025 Manchester greyhounds continued last Friday night as the Greyhounds traveled to Allard Field in Sciotoville to face the East Tartans, a team they had never defeated. With an offense that produced 363 yards and a defense that forced three turnovers, that narrative was changed. With a dominant 42-12 victory, the Hounds broke the Tartan curse and also made more history, a 4-0 start for the first time in school history. With the big win, Manchester held on to its #7 spot in the computer rankings for Division VII, Region 28.

“Anytime you see East on the schedule you know you’re facing a tough team,” said Manchester head coach Justin Schmitz. “They’re big, physical kids that take a lot of pride in their physicality and smash mouth style of play. We felt like we had some good answers for their schemes. We had a great week of preparation and it translated to the field.”

After the first Tartan possession ended in a fourth down sack by the Hounds’ Braylon Rickett, the Hounds were forced to punt when they got the ball and punter Dylon Fite pinned East down at their own six-yard line. A fumbled snap by the Tartans was covered by the Hounds and resulted in a three-yard touchdown run by Joel Blythe with 3:13 left in the first quarter. The two-point try failed but the Hounds had a lead they would not give away.

The Greyhound defense stepped up again on the next East possession, forcing another fumble, recovered by Rickett at the East 41. On the second play of the second quarter, Rickett ran untouched into the end zone from eight yards out to give the visitors a 12-0 advantage.

Again the East offense was stifled and forced into a punt situation but the Hounds broke through and blocked the kick, giving them possession on the Tartan 9. The opportunistic Greyhounds capitalized with another Rickett scoring jaunt, this time from four yards out and a two-point run by quarterback Amillion Brown made it 20-0 with 9:49 left in the first half. The miscues continued for the home team on their next possession, another fumble, this time deep in Manchester territory covered by Manchester’s Brown. The Hounds the put together a 91-yard drive, getting a big run by Brown to keep the drive alive. After converting a fourth and one, Dylon Fite too a pitch and scampered around right end 45 yards to the house, A two-point toss from Brown to Maxx Hanson gave the Hounds a commanding 28-0 halftime advantage.

“We’re a tough offense to prepare for with all the weapons we have,” said Coach Schmitz. “Levi can grind it out, Joel and Braylon are as good as any running backs that I’ve ever coached, and Amillion is a coach’s dream quarterback. Our defensive linemen owned the line of scrimmage. Coaches Wes Jones and Mason Gilliam have done a phenomenal job of preparing those guys each and every week. Maxx Hanson stepped into a new role for us this week at defensive end and played as good a game as I’ve ever had a player play. Our linebackers played downhill all night.”

“It feels great to be 4-0. That’s a huge step for our program. To beat that team tonight says a lot about how far we’ve come in a short amount of time. All the credit goes to these kids, my coaching staff, our administration for allowing me to run this program the right way and our community for showing up in a big way every Friday night. We’re 4-0 right now, but these kids know there’s a lot more football to play.”

The second half began with the Tartans recovering an onside kick but again the Manchester defense was up to the task, forcing a turnover on downs that set up one of the night’s most exciting plays. Brown dropped back to pass and found a wide open Joel Blythe streaking down the sideline, Blythe momentarily juggled the throw but hauled it and went all the way for a 71-yard TD reception. The two-point pass from Brown to Rickett made it 36-0 with 6:38 to go in the third and also instituted the OHSAA running clock rule.

The Tartans finally got on the board on the ensuing kickoff when Tycen Pernell scooped the kick up at the 22 and raced 78 yards to paydirt. The two-point try failed and the Hounds still were up comfortably 36-6. The Manchester offense, who scored on six of wight drives in the game, made their one mistake, fumbling the ball away and the Tartans took advantage on their first snap, getting a 75-yard touchdown run from Pernell and early in the final quarter the Manchcester lead was sliced to 36-12.

The Hounds had one more answer left, getting a 34-yard touchdown run from Rickett with 2:20 to play and the clock then ran out on a historic win for the Manchester squad, by the 42-12 final.

The Hounds again put up some gaudy offensive stats with QB Amillion Brown going 7-11 for 158 yards and a touchdown and also carrying the rock three times for 65 yards. Braylon Rickett was huge again, carrying five times for 75 yards and three touchdowns. WJoel Blythe hauled in three passes for 99 yards and a score. On Defense Brown led the team with nine tackles with Levi Hargis adding 6.

After a three-game road trip, the Greyhounds return home this weekend, hosting the Vanlue Wildcats at Veterans Stadium on Saturday, September 20 with a 4 p.m. kickoff. The Wildcats hail from Vanlue, Ohio and have a total school enrollment of 98 students. The Wildcats are 0-4 and have been outscored by their opponents 206-6.

Manchester

6 22 8 6 —42

Sciotoville East

0 0 9 9 —12

First Quarter

MHS- Blythe 3-yd. run (conversion failed)

Second Quarter

MHS- Rickett 8-yd. run (conversion failed)

MHS- Rickett 4-yd. run (Brown run)

MHS- Fite 45-yd. run (Brown to Hanson conversion)

Third Quarter

MHS- Blythe 71-yd. pass From Brown (Rickett run)

EAST- Pernell 79-yd. kickoff return (conversion failed)

Fourth Quarter

EAST- Pernell 75-yd. run (conversion failed)

MHS- Rickett 34-yd. run (conversion failed)