Southwood Stuns Manchester

NORTH MANCHESTER - Six days after beating state-ranked, undefeated Rochester 26-20, Manchester's football team hosted and lost to Southwood 33-6 on Friday.

The Squires entered the game tied for first in the Three Rivers Conference with Rochester, Tippecanoe Valley and Oak Hill. Each team was 3-1 in the TRC. After the loss, Manchester fell to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the TRC. Southwood upped its record to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the TRC.

The key play that hurt Manchester occurred in the third quarter. Trailing 14-6, the Squires drove down the field and had a first down at Southwood's 20-yard line. But instead of scoring, Manchester quarterback Michael Sorg was sacked for a 20-yard loss.

The sack was one of two big sacks against Manchester. Southwood also recorded a sack for an 18-yard loss on the Squires.

Manchester trailed 14-6 after three quarters, but Southwood blew the game open in the fourth. Jon Gidley caught a 59-yard pass from quarterback Doug Wiley that made it 20-6 with nine minutes left. Fullback Shawn Zellers scored on a 1-yard run with 1:19 left to make it 27-6. Finally, Southwood's Coby Halderman intercepted a pass and returned it 76 yards for a touchdown to make it 33-6 with 31 seconds left.

Manchester finished with 92 rushing yards on 41 carries, an average of just 2.2 yards per carry. Josh Peden paced Manchester with 83 rushing yards on 20 carries. Zellers led Southwood with 91 rushing yards on 22 carries. Gidley caught two passes for 93 yards, and both went for touchdowns.

"We were pretty flat, and really, it seemed like both teams were flat," Manchester coach Al Bailey said. "Our very first play, we fumbled. Southwood had good field position the whole first half."

SOUTHWOOD 33

MANCHESTER 6

Southwood 7 7 0 19 - 33

Manchester 0 6 0 0 - 6

M S

First downs 12 8

Rushes-yards 41-92 38-110

Passing yards 85 113

Comp.-att.-int. 10-28-3 3-13-0

Fumbles-lost 1-1 4-1

Punts-avg. 6-30 8-31.1

Penalties-yards 5-40 6-45

First Quarter

S -ÊJon Gidley 34 pass from Doug Wiley (Shawn Zellers kick) 7-0 S, 1:28

Second Quarter

S - Zellers 5 run (Zellers kick) 14-0 S, 6:45

M -ÊJosh Peden 9 run (Brandon Whitcraft kick failed) 14-6 S, 5:30

Fourth Quarter

S -ÊGidley 59 pass from Wiley (Zellers kick failed) 20-6 S, 9:00

S -ÊZellers 1 run (Zellers kick) 27-6 S, 1:19

S - Coby Halderman 76 interception return (two-point conversion failed) 33-6 S, :31

Individual Leaders

Rushing - Manchester: Peden 20-83. Southwood: Zellers 22-91.

Passing - Manchester: Michael Sorg 10-28-3. Southwood: Wiley 3-12-0 113, Josh Schoeff 0-1-0 0.

Receiving - Manchester: Klay Bechtold 5-40. Southwood: Gidley 2-93.