Barrett Finds His Form
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
NORTH MANCHESTER - If Manchester All-State running back candidate David Barrett had a subpar game last week against Rochester gaining only 80 yards, then he certainly made up for it Friday night.
Barrett ran the ball 40 times, racking up 287 yards and four touchdowns along the way as he helped his Squires beat rival Southwood 42-28. The win also meant that Manchester sits alone atop the TRC standings with just two games remaining.
Both teams came into the contest with undefeated records in the conference. And it looked early on as though Southwood would be in first place at the end of the night
After Squire fullback Greg Groombridge put his team ahead 7-0 late in the first quarter, Southwood stormed back with 14 unanswered points. The Knights' D.J. Marshall returned the Manchester kickoff 78 yards to tie the score up at 7-7. Manchester coach Al Bailey was concerned about the effect the kickoff return would have on his team.
"We had a great opening drive. Then we kicked off and they had that easy score. Sometimes after a play like that a team can have a letdown and I think we did that."
On Manchester's next possesion, Clint Marshall picked off Squire QB Rex Reimer's pass and returned it to the Manchester 45 yard line. The Knights would then mount a 9 play drive that would culminate with Dallas Dillon plunging in from two yards out.
Refusing to be outdone Manchester would have a time consuming drive of their own. The drive was nearly halted when the Squires were faced with a 4th and inches on the Southwood 44 yard line. Coach Bailey decided to go for it rather than attempt a pooch punt.
Greg Groombridge validated Bailey's decision as barrelled through the Knights' short yardage defense and nearly broke free for the touchdown but was wrestled down by the Southwood secondary after a 24 yard run.
The Squires quickly capitalized as Barrett scored his first touchdown of the night from 20 yards out and drawing Manchester even with Southwood.
Looking to jump back into the lead, Southwood QB Paul Wright aired out a 54 yard bomb to Clint Marshall leaving the Knights just outside the Manchester 10 yard line. The drive was quickly halted however when Manchester's Groombridge fell on a Dallas Dillon fumble.
As they've done all season long the Squires made Southwood pay for it's mistakes.
Despite starting deep in their own end, Manchester quickly marched down field. The backfield tandem of Barrett and Groombridge was nearly unstopable as the two combined to rush the ball eight straight times for 52 yards.
Reimer took over from there as he connected with Annon Gaerte for a 34 yard TD strike and pulled the Squires ahead 21-14 as the first half drew to a close.
Manchester recieved the ball again to start the second half. On the kickoff the Squires' Gaerte, assuming the ball was going to roll out of bounds, watched as the ball rolled down inside the 10 yard line and finally scooped up the ball and returned it out to the 14 yard line.
Gaerte would soon make ammends when on 3rd and a long one, Reimer scrambled out of the pocket on a naked bootleg. Gaerte realizing Reimer was taking it himself, layed out two Southwood defenders in pursuit of the QB and allowed for Reimer to rumble 31 yards and give his team a fresh set of downs.
Barrett then popped back into the action rushing the ball five straight times including a touchdwon run from 3 yards out. This pushed Manchester's lead to 28-14 and making harder for Southwood pull even.
With the Knight's running game being shut down by the Manchester defense, Southwood would be forced to throw the ball. This was complicated by the fact that a steady drizzle had been falling since late in the first quarter making the football hard to grip.
The game was in danger of being put away in the third quarter when on Manchester's ensuing kickoff the ball bounced off a Southwood player and into the lap of Squire Steve Fawcett.
Hoping to capitalize on another Southwood mistake Manchester took over on the Knights's 34 yard line.
The drive would stall however when a holding penalty would leave the Squires with a 3rd and goal from the 11 yard line. Looking to deliver a knockout blow, Manchester's Reimer lofted a pass into the endzone that was picked off by Clint Marshall.
With a rare second chance the Knight's looked to cut the Manchester lead in half. Instead four plays later Manchester had the ball on the 50 facing a Southwood defense that spent nearly the entire third quarter on the field.
David Barrett would only 3 plays including the touchdown run from 36 yards out to increase the Squire lead to three touchdowns.
Despite Southwood scoring with 8:48 left in the game on another Dallas Dillon run this time from a yard out, the game was never in doubt from that point on.
Unable to be stopped all night, Barrett continued to pound the Knight's defense with runs of seven yards on average. Much of the credit according to Bailey goes to Barrett's blockers.
"I thought our offensvie line led by Nate Young, I mention these guys every week because they do a great job."
#Barrett's still the one who has to run the ball though. After his performance against Southwood Barrett now has 1,534 on 224 carries with two games left in the regular season.
Barret and his Squires, 6-1(5-0) hope to clinch at least a share of the TRC title as they travel to Oak Hill friday. [[In-content Ad]]
NORTH MANCHESTER - If Manchester All-State running back candidate David Barrett had a subpar game last week against Rochester gaining only 80 yards, then he certainly made up for it Friday night.
Barrett ran the ball 40 times, racking up 287 yards and four touchdowns along the way as he helped his Squires beat rival Southwood 42-28. The win also meant that Manchester sits alone atop the TRC standings with just two games remaining.
Both teams came into the contest with undefeated records in the conference. And it looked early on as though Southwood would be in first place at the end of the night
After Squire fullback Greg Groombridge put his team ahead 7-0 late in the first quarter, Southwood stormed back with 14 unanswered points. The Knights' D.J. Marshall returned the Manchester kickoff 78 yards to tie the score up at 7-7. Manchester coach Al Bailey was concerned about the effect the kickoff return would have on his team.
"We had a great opening drive. Then we kicked off and they had that easy score. Sometimes after a play like that a team can have a letdown and I think we did that."
On Manchester's next possesion, Clint Marshall picked off Squire QB Rex Reimer's pass and returned it to the Manchester 45 yard line. The Knights would then mount a 9 play drive that would culminate with Dallas Dillon plunging in from two yards out.
Refusing to be outdone Manchester would have a time consuming drive of their own. The drive was nearly halted when the Squires were faced with a 4th and inches on the Southwood 44 yard line. Coach Bailey decided to go for it rather than attempt a pooch punt.
Greg Groombridge validated Bailey's decision as barrelled through the Knights' short yardage defense and nearly broke free for the touchdown but was wrestled down by the Southwood secondary after a 24 yard run.
The Squires quickly capitalized as Barrett scored his first touchdown of the night from 20 yards out and drawing Manchester even with Southwood.
Looking to jump back into the lead, Southwood QB Paul Wright aired out a 54 yard bomb to Clint Marshall leaving the Knights just outside the Manchester 10 yard line. The drive was quickly halted however when Manchester's Groombridge fell on a Dallas Dillon fumble.
As they've done all season long the Squires made Southwood pay for it's mistakes.
Despite starting deep in their own end, Manchester quickly marched down field. The backfield tandem of Barrett and Groombridge was nearly unstopable as the two combined to rush the ball eight straight times for 52 yards.
Reimer took over from there as he connected with Annon Gaerte for a 34 yard TD strike and pulled the Squires ahead 21-14 as the first half drew to a close.
Manchester recieved the ball again to start the second half. On the kickoff the Squires' Gaerte, assuming the ball was going to roll out of bounds, watched as the ball rolled down inside the 10 yard line and finally scooped up the ball and returned it out to the 14 yard line.
Gaerte would soon make ammends when on 3rd and a long one, Reimer scrambled out of the pocket on a naked bootleg. Gaerte realizing Reimer was taking it himself, layed out two Southwood defenders in pursuit of the QB and allowed for Reimer to rumble 31 yards and give his team a fresh set of downs.
Barrett then popped back into the action rushing the ball five straight times including a touchdwon run from 3 yards out. This pushed Manchester's lead to 28-14 and making harder for Southwood pull even.
With the Knight's running game being shut down by the Manchester defense, Southwood would be forced to throw the ball. This was complicated by the fact that a steady drizzle had been falling since late in the first quarter making the football hard to grip.
The game was in danger of being put away in the third quarter when on Manchester's ensuing kickoff the ball bounced off a Southwood player and into the lap of Squire Steve Fawcett.
Hoping to capitalize on another Southwood mistake Manchester took over on the Knights's 34 yard line.
The drive would stall however when a holding penalty would leave the Squires with a 3rd and goal from the 11 yard line. Looking to deliver a knockout blow, Manchester's Reimer lofted a pass into the endzone that was picked off by Clint Marshall.
With a rare second chance the Knight's looked to cut the Manchester lead in half. Instead four plays later Manchester had the ball on the 50 facing a Southwood defense that spent nearly the entire third quarter on the field.
David Barrett would only 3 plays including the touchdown run from 36 yards out to increase the Squire lead to three touchdowns.
Despite Southwood scoring with 8:48 left in the game on another Dallas Dillon run this time from a yard out, the game was never in doubt from that point on.
Unable to be stopped all night, Barrett continued to pound the Knight's defense with runs of seven yards on average. Much of the credit according to Bailey goes to Barrett's blockers.
"I thought our offensvie line led by Nate Young, I mention these guys every week because they do a great job."
#Barrett's still the one who has to run the ball though. After his performance against Southwood Barrett now has 1,534 on 224 carries with two games left in the regular season.
Barret and his Squires, 6-1(5-0) hope to clinch at least a share of the TRC title as they travel to Oak Hill friday. [[In-content Ad]]