By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
After a tough 36-0 defeat at Fayetteville in the season opener, Manchester head football coach Justin Schmitz headed to the film room. What he saw inspired him to make a couple of changes to the offensive side of the ball, changes that ended up making all the difference in the Greyhounds’ second outing of the season.
First, Schmitz was concerned with his offense’s inability to move the ball at Fayetteville and inserted sophomore Cayden Allen in at quarterback for last Friday night’s home match up with the Green Bobcats. Commenting that the film showed “a real dog”, another sophomore, Jasper Walker took over the starting halfback duties. Those moves turned out to be magical as Walker ran for well over 100 yards and two long touchdowns while Allen led the offense and ran for two touchdowns himself as the Greyhounds outlasted the stifling heat and the Bobcats, coming from behind with two fourth quarter scores to secure a 36-24 victory on Homecoming Night at Veterans Stadium, evening their season mark at 1-1.
“I thought our kids showed a lot of fight tonight,” said Coach Schmitz. “We didn’t play our best football the first half in any phase of the game. It would’ve been easy for our guys to tap out, but these Manchester kids are built different. We take a lot of pride in our toughness, grit, and physicality down here along the river.”
“I’m just really proud of our kids. To be down 18-8 at halftime and come back to win 36-24 shows the fight and resilience this team has. Getting our first win of the season on Homecoming Night makes it even more special. Hopefully this gives our guys some confidence and momentum as we move forward.”
With a 7 p.m. kickoff in the heat that had covered the area all week, the Hounds did not get off to a good start as Green started at their own 30 after the opening kickoff and put the first points of the game on the board, a 39-yard scoring pass from freshman quarterback Liam McGuire to freshman receiver Ayeson Brown. The extra point attempt was blocked but the Bobcats had a quick 6-0 advantage.
That advantage lasted only a few seconds as the greyhounds scored their first points of the 2026 season when senior Dylon Fite took the ensuing kickoff and miraculously seemed to break tackles of every Green player on the kickoff team. Fite went 75 yards to the house and a two-point run by Walker gave Manchester an 8-6 lead just minutes into the game.
When Green got the ball back, they tried the long pass down the sideline to Brown again and again they toasted the Greyhound secondary. Brown hauled in the pass from McGuire and went untouched to the end zone for a 65-yard touchdown and a 12-8 lead for the visitors, which is how the first quarter ended.
Early in the second stanza, the Bobcats’ Kaiden Parsons picked off a Manchester pass and the Green offense took advantage, going 62 yards for another score in a drive that included a conversion on fourth and 8. The score came on a three-yard TD run around right end by Leland Blevins. The two-point run was stopped but with 7:128 left in the first half, the visitors had the momentum and an 18-8 lead.
The next Manchester possession ended with a fourth and 5 quarterback sack by the Green defense, but the Cats gave it right back on a fumble recovered by the Hounds. The home team then turned it over on downs, the Bobcats offense did the same, and as the half wound down, Manchester drove deep into Bobcat territory, aided by a first down completion from Allen to Tyler Vaughn. But the drive and the half ended with another Green interception and the Bobcats still holding a ten-point advantage.
“We knew coming into halftime that we had to make some adjustments defensively,” said Schmitz. “They had hit us on the same play three times, so we made some changes and our kids responded. Our defensive line did a much better job of getting after their quarterback in the second half, and that really helped us settle things down.”
With the heat still a factor, the second half began in a big way for the Greyhounds. On their first offensive play from scrimmage, Walker burst through the middle of the line, got past the secondary and went 57 yards for the touchdown. For good measure, Walker also booted the extra point to pull the Hounds within 18-15. With Elijah Evans now calling the signals, the Green offense was forced into a turnover on downs and Manchester took over on their own 28 and went nowhere in three plays, then lined up to punt. Coach Schmitz called the fake punt and it worked to perfection, Fite hitting a wide open Allen for the first down. That promising drive died later though when the Hounds’ Carson Horner lost the handle on a reverse run and the Bobcats falling on the loose pigskin.
The Manchester defense was again up to the task, a sack by senior Remington Hayslip stalling the next Green possession. After the punt, the Greyhounds took over on their own 45 and with the aid of two personal foul calls on the Bobcats, drove for the go-ahead score, a 30-yard scamper by Walker, who again kicked the extra point to give the hosts a 22-18 lead as the third quarter came to an end.
Just over a minute into the final period, the scoreboard flipped again as the Bobcats got another touchdown run from Blevins to take a 24-22 lead, a lead that lasted less than two minutes in what was now a war of attrition to see which team had the most left in the tank. With 10:27 left in the game, on a quarterback keeper, Allen raced 13 yards to the end zone and Fite ran in the two-point conversion and the Hounds were up for good at 30-24.
After exchanging empty possessions, the Greyhounds put some icing on the cake with 4:08 to play. Again it was Allen off to paydirt, this time from 30 yards out. The two-point try failed but the home side of the scoreboard lit up with the 36-24 lead for the Manchester squad. It was now up to the Hounds’ defense to hold and they did, forcing a Green turnover on downs. Using a nice first down run from Horner, the Manchester offense milked the rest of the clock and the celebration began at 0:00 as the Hounds send a Homecoming crowd home happy with their first win of 2026.
“Offensively, we talked at halftime about taking care of the football and executing,” added Coach Schmitz. “Our guys did a much better job of that in the second half. Cayden Allen and Jasper Walker really stepped up and made some big plays for us when we needed them.Defensively, Dylon Fite, Remington Hayslip, Avery Gilliam and Elijah Wallace really owned the line of scrimmage. That was a big part of the turnaround.”
Savoring that first win of the season, Manchester fans will get a special treat this week as Thursday Night Football comes to Veterans Stadium. The Greyhounds will entertain the Sciotoville East Tartans in a scheduled 7 p.m. kickoff .
Green
12 6 0 6 —24
Manchester
8 0 14 14 —36
First Quarter
GHS- Brown 39-yd. pass from McGuire (extra point blocked)
MHS- Fite 75-yd. kickoff return (Walker conversion run)
GHS- Brown 65-yard pass from McGuire (conversion failed)
Second Quarter
GHS- Blevins 3-yd. run (conversion failed)
Third Quarter
MHS- Walker 57-yd. run (Walker extra point)
MHS- Walker 30-yd. run (Walker extra point)
Fourth Quarter
GHS- Blevind 6-yd. run (conversion failed)
MHS- Allen 13-yd. run (Fite conversion run)
MHS- Allen 30-yd. run (conversion failed)