Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
INDIANAPOLIS - In beating No. 3 (3A) Rochester 26-20 Saturday, Manchester football coach Al Bailey said watching Purdue helped his team win.
"You gotta take what they give you," he said. "I called (Purdue coach) Joe Tiller, and that's what he told me. If they want to stack them in there and hammer down on you, you have to go with the pass."
Now Bailey was joking about his talk with Tiller, but he was not kidding about taking what Rochester's defense gave the Squires. Rochester coach Mark Miller entered the game concerned with Manchester's running attack, not the passing attack. The Zebras put "eight men in a box" - crowded the line of scrimmage to stop the run - so Manchester burned Rochester with the pass.
Manchester quarterback Michael Sorg threw three touchdown passes of 14, 30 and 11 yards to Klay Bechtold, his only three catches in Saturday's win at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.
Last year Bechtold threw for more than 1,000 yards as Manchester's starting quarterback.
"This year, he's been a receiver from day one," Bailey said. "He has a good arm and can throw, but then we don't have him out there to catch the ball."
The win, combined with Oak Hill's win over Tippecanoe Valley earlier in the day, set up a four-way tie for first in the Three Rivers Conference. Manchester improved to 4-2 overall, while Rochester dropped to 5-1. Manchester, Oak Hill, Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley each are 3-1 in the TRC.
When Manchester wasn't hurting Rochester with the pass, Rochester was hurting itself with mistakes.
In one game, the No. 3 Zebras roughed Manchester's punter twice, fumbled once, had a pass intercepted, had a critical special teams breakdown and had a punt blocked.
Manchester's ground game, which didn't post overwhelming numbers, was persistent. The Squires rushed the ball 45 times for 133 yards, led by Josh Peden's 75 yards on 26 carries.
Rochester quarterback Kyle Surface completed 16 of 28 passes for 195 yards with an interception, while Sorg was 6 of 10 for 98 yards with an interception. Rochester split end B.J. Swank caught 11 passes for 127 yards.
The blocked punt gave the Squires the ball at Rochester's 11-yard line and set up their first score. After Manchester Peden was dropped in the backfield for a 3-yard loss, Sorg completed a 14-yard touchdown pass to Bechtold to make it 6-0 with 5:10 left.
Manchester's second touchdown was its only one not aided by a Rochester mistake, but the Zebras' poor field position allowed the Squires to field the punt near the middle of the field at its 41-yard line. Sorg soon found Bechtold for a 30-yard touchdown pass. Bechtold ran a deep route up the sideline and got past his defender to make it 12-0 with 1:03 left in the first half.
After going most of the first half unable to get past Manchester's 47-yard line, the Zebras drove down the field in the final minute of the opening half. They advanced to the Squires' 20-yard line with 20 seconds left, but Manchester linebacker John Sommer deflected a Surface pass into teammate Jerrold Blocher's hands for an interception to squelch the drive.
Trying to forget about a poor first half tainted by poor field position and Surface's 2-of-10 passing with an interception did the Zebras no good. Rochester started the second half with a special teams breakdown that led to another Manchester score.
Manchester's Anthony Sorg opened the second half by returning a kickoff 83 yards up through the middle of Rochester's special teams untouched to give Manchester an 18-0 lead 13 seconds into the third quarter. Manchester's two-point conversion failed for the third time.
A fumble by tight end Josh Lett set up Manchester's final score. After catching a pass for six yards, Lett dropped the ball at Rochester's 22-yard line. Manchester recovered. A 15-yard run by John Sommer set up the Squires' final touchdown, an 11-yard pass from Sorg to Bechtold. Sorg completed a pass to Farron Gaerte for the two-point conversion to make it 26-6 with 5:27 left.
While the two times the Zebras roughed the punter did not hurt them by leading to Manchester scores, both helped extend Manchester drives. The Squires responded with seven-play drives after receiving automatic first downs on both plays. When the Zebras took over after the stalled drives, they took over at their 20- and 22-yard lines.
After a mistake-plagued three quarters, Rochester nearly made up for its sins in the final five minutes by moving the ball up and down the field. Surface capped a six-play drive by scoring on a 10-yard run and converted a pass for two points to make it 26-14 with 3:22 left.
Rochester then did an on-side kick, which worked. It bounced over the first line of Manchester defenders, and Rochester recovered. Seven plays later, Surface found B.J. Swank for a 5-yard touchdown pass. After the two-point conversion, Rochester trailed 26-20 with 1:45 left.
The Zebras tried another on-side kick, but this time Manchester wide receiver Aaron Cassel recovered the ball to seal the win for the Squires.
MANCHESTER 26
ROCHESTER 20
Manchester 6 6 6 8 - 26
Rochester 0 0 6 14 - 20
M R
First downs 12 14
Rushes/yards 45-133 25-82
Passing yards 98 195
Comp.-Att.-Int. 6-10-1 16-28-1
Total offense 231 277
Fumbles/lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties/yards 4-35 3-35
First Quarter
M -ÊKlay Bechtold 14 pass from Michael Sorg (kick wide) 6-0 M, 5:10
Second Quarter
M -ÊBechtold 30 pass from Sorg (pass failed) 12-0 M, 1:03
Third Quarter
M -ÊAnthony Sorg 83 kickoff return (pass failed) 18-0 M, 11:47
R -ÊKyle Surface 9 run (kick blocked) 18-6 M, 8:12
Fourth Quarter
M - Bechtold 11 pass from Sorg (Farron Gaerte pass from Sorg) 26-6 M, 5:27
R - Surface 10 run (B.J. Swank pass from Surface) 26-14 M, 3:22
R -ÊSwank 5 pass from Surface (run failed) 26-20 M, 1:45
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing - M: Josh Peden 26-75, Jon Gratz 8-28, John Sommer 4-23, Anthony Sorg 4-10. R: Adam Frounfelter 10-34, Surface 7-24, Damic Beck 6-13.
Passing - M: Sorg 6-10-1 98. R: Surface 16-28-1 195.
Receiving - M: Bechtold 3-55, Klint Rupley 2-34, Gaerte 1-9. R: Swank 11-127, Josh Lett 2-26, Gary Rom 2-9, Frounfelter 1-33.
