By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
A couple of weeks ago it was Thursday night football at Veterans Stadium in Manchester and this past weekend it was Saturday night football at the Vet as the Greyhounds entertained the Clark Montessori Cougars. The Hounds came ion on a three-game winning streak and a #8 spot in the first state computer rankings to be released while the Cougars came to town with a record of 1-4, but with one obviously advantage over the home team. Clark boasted a roster of 32 players while the Greyhounds dressed just 13 and seeing that drop to 12 after senior Dylon Fite went out with an injury early in the contest.
Even with that disparity, the Greyhounds put up a major fight, forging a halftime tie, before wearing down later in the game. The Cougars’ running game took control and the visitors eventually pulled away late to post their second win of the season by a 28-12 final.
The first quarter of Saturday night’s battle was somewhat uneventful, especially on the offensive sides of the ball. The quarter was dominated by the defenses, resulting in three series ending in a turnover on downs and five resulting in punts, The Cougars had the best scoring opportunity late in the period, taking over at the Manchester 42 after the Greyhounds botched the snap on a punt attempt. The Clark drive went nowhere, however, thanks in part to a quarterback sack by the Hounds’ Jasper Walker and the opening stanza ended deadlocked at 0.
The second quarter began with another pair of punts before the Cougars finally broke the scoring ice. Taking over at the Hounds’ 36, Clark took just two plays to find paydirt. The first was a 290yard scamper by quarterback Jayden Davis and Davis finished the drive off by going the final seven yards for the touchdown. The two-point conversion failed and the visitors had a 6-0 lead.
The ensuing Manchester possession looked promising after an initial 11-yard first down run by Fite but the Hounds again turned it over on downs after a fake punt pass fell incomplete. The Greyhounds got their first dose of momentum in the game when a pass by the Cougar’s Karter Lipscomb was intercepted by Tyler Vaughn, giving the Hounds possession at the Clark 40. On their first snap after the turnover, the home team got along run from quarterback Cayden Allen with a facemask penalty on the Cougars tacked on the end. From the Clark 14, Allen hit receiver Kaiden LeRouge on a bubble screen and LeRouge did the rest, weaving his way through tacklers and getting just inside the right pylon for the score with 1:38 left in the first half. The two-point try failed and the score was even at 6. LeRouge made the play on defenses when the Cougars got the ball back, intercepting a Lipscomb pass but the Manchester offense stalled and the two teams went to the intermission all tied up.
The third quarter started on a promising note for the Greyhounds as their offense was forced into another punt but the kick was muffed by the Cougars and recovered by the Greyhounds, but the home side could not take advantage, again being stymied by the strong Clark defense and on another fake punt seeing the pass picked off by the Cougars. Clark took advantage of the Manchester miscue, driving 52 yards, 35 of that coming on a touchdown run by Rayshaun Gibson. The two-point try again was stopped by the Hounds and with 7:47 left in the third, the Cougars had grabbed a 12-6 advantage.
The Clark defense continued to dominate the line of scrimmage and forced the Manchester offense into yet another three and out and after the punt the Cougars had a long scoring run nullified by a holding penalty and were then forced to punt. Again, though, the Greyhounds went nowhere, losing seven yards, and kicking it away once more.
As the final period began, and with a short field, the Cougars looked like they had put things out of reach when they got a 31-yard TD run from Davis, who also took in the two-point conversion to give Clark what looked at the time to be an insurmountable lead at 20-6 with 11:46 to play. But just when things looked dire for the home team, the ensuing kickoff was scooped up by LeRouge, who proceeded to race 90 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown return that breathed new life into the home side. An extra point kick by Walker was wide right and with 11:28 to play, the Hounds were back in the contest.
The Greyhound defense stepped up and made a stop, forcing a Cougar punt that set the Manchester offense up in great position at the Clark 35, but again the Hounds’ offense went in reverse, losing 12 yards on a second down revers call and again punting the ball away, but again the Manchester defense made another play, recovering a Cougar fumble and taking over on the Clark 39. The Hounds’ offense found itself in a third and 29 and got a pass interference call, then a 31-yard gain on pass from Allen to LeRouge. At the Clark 12-yard line, a run lost three yards, an Allen pass was incomplete and then an option pass attempt also went awry. Faced with a fourth and 13, Allen dropped back to pass but was sacked by the Cougar defense and the last Manchester threat had died.
With 1:09 to play the Cougars picked up an insurance score on a 51-yard touchdown run by Gibson and a two-point pass to Davis to lead 28-12. The Greyhounds did get one final late possession and did cross midfield but another turnover on downs ended the game and gave the Cougars a happy trip back to the city with the 28-12 triumph.
The now 3-2 Greyhounds will now look to regroup and prepare for their final home game of the 2026 campaign, another Saturday night affair as they will host the division II Dayton Belmont Bison in a 7 p.m. kickoff.
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