North Manchester - Friday's 2A Sectional 28 championship between fourth-ranked Heritage and seventh-ranked Manchester had the possibilities of an offensive explosion.

In the first 2:42 of the game those possibilities became reality.

And when the smoke finally cleared, Heritage (12-0) defeated Manchester 30-23.

The Squires, who won their first Three Rivers Conference title this season, finished the year 10-2. Both losses came to Heritage.

The first offensive explosion of this game came on the fourth play, when Heritage's Brandon Robinson, the state's all-time rushing leader, caught a 51-yard pass from Brad Bultemeier that put the Patriots at Manchester's 7-yard line. Two plays later, Robinson showed off his running ability as he scampered in from five yards out at the 9:33 mark. Lucas Foster added the extra point, and the Patriots were quickly on the scoreboard leading 7-0.

Not to be outdone was Manchester's David Barrett, the only back to rush for 2,000 yards in the regular season this year. Barrett received the ensuing kickoff at his own 11-yard line and raced 89 yards for Manchester's first score. Greg Groombridge nailed the point after touchdown to make it a 7-7 game as only 15 seconds passed since Robinson scored for Heritage.

The scoring didn't come quite as frequently during the rest of the game. Only three more points were scored in the opening quarter, those coming when Foster connected on a 22-yard field goal with 3:28 left to put Heritage on top 10-7. Heritage never relinquished its lead even though the opportunities were there for Manchester.

"Heritage is a great team," said Manchester coach Al Bailey. "They pummeled their opponents all year long, and tonight we played head to head with them."

The last time these teams met, Heritage walked away with a 21-0 win in the second week of the regular season. Bailey knew this time ball control would be a major factor in the game.

He said so at Tuesday's practice.

"They did what we wanted to," said Bailey. "They were able to control the ball in last few minutes of the game."

All in all both teams controlled the ball fairly well, and there was only one punt in the entire game.

That came in the fourth quarter, when Manchester's Rex Reimer took the punt and advanced 72 yards, setting up a 2-yard touchdown run by Barrett that knotted the score at 23 with 10:05 left.

As he did all night long, Robinson found a way to put his team into scoring position.

Facing a fourth and one situation at Manchester's 31-yard line, he managed to gain 10 crucial yards. He eventually scored one more time, this one coming on a 3-yard run with 2:46 left in the closing frame.

Foster again connected on the point after touchdown accounting for the 30-23 final score.

"You can look at what's on the field," said Bailey. "We have 8 seniors, most of them played both ways, and it showed. There was no lack of effort, we just got gassed and they ran the clock out."

Despite being on the downside of the scoreboard, Bailey had nothing but positive remarks for his team.

"This was different from any group I've ever had," said Bailey. "All I can do is say thanks. They did everything together, and they set a set a standard of play that these underclassmen will have to match.

"I've said it so many times, we only had eight seniors, but a couple years ago there was 22 in that class. So the eight that made it through everything are definitely winners. They're going to be the leaders of our community."

Heritage 30 Manchester 23

Heritage 10 6 7 7 - 30

Manchester 7 3 6 7 - 23

H M

First downs 17 13

Rushes-yards 53-238 29-131

Passing 166 80

Comp.-Att.-Int. 6-10-1 6-17-0 Total offense 404 211

Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1

Punts-ave. 0-0 1-35

First Quarter

H - Brandon Robinson 5 run (Lucas Foster kick) 9:33 7-0 H

M -ÊDavid Barrett 89 kickoff return (Greg Groombridge kick) 7-7

H -ÊFoster 22 field goal 3:28 10-7

Second Quarter

H -ÊTyrone Fontenette 20 pass from Robinson (Foster kick failed) 6:22 16-7

M -ÊGroombridge 24 field goal :04 16-10

Third Quarter

M - Kedric Miller 31 pass from Rex Reimer (Groombridge kick failed) 7:29 16-16

H - Robinson 1 run (Foster kick) 4:01 23-16

Fourth Quarter

M - Barrett 2 run (Groombridge kick) 10:05 23-23

H - Robinson 3 run (Foster kick) 2:46 30-23

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Rushing - Heritage: Robinson 30-168, Jacob Riley 16-48, Brad Bultemeier 4-13; Manchester: Barrett 14-89, Reimer 9-18, Groombridge 6-24

Receiving -ÊHeritage: Robinson 3-98, Fontenette 2-59, Foster 1-9; Manchester: Miller 2-41, Annon Gaerte 2-21, Barrett 1-10

Passing - Heritage: Bultemeier 5-9-1-146; Manchester: Reimer 6-17-0-80 [[In-content Ad]]