With 15 returning lettermen, Manchester is looking to make a few waves in the revamped Three Rivers Conference. “We have a good core of young men coming back. Our offensive line is probably going to be a strength, as will our receiver corps,” Squire head coach Greg Miller said. “We’re going to be a little bit younger at quarterback, at least experience-wise. But from what we’ve seen at practice in the first week and what we did in the summer, there’s a lot of high expectations. “We’re really excited about the time our kids have put in inside the weight room and watching game film. We might be young in some spots, but we’re expecting those kids to come out and play like veteran players.” The front runner for the Manchester quarterback position is a converted receiver. “We have Bailey Ness, who was a wideout last season but has put in the time in the offseason to learn what it takes to be a quarterback,” Miller said. “He was our backup last year, throws a really nice ball and he’s getting our No. 1 reps right now. He’s doing a great job.” The Squires will also seek to keep opposing defenses off-balance in terms of play selection. “We like to say we’re 50/50. We’ll throw the ball when we need to and we’ll run the ball when we need to,” said Miller. “I think when you break it down, we’re probably 60/40 run/pass ratio, but we try to keep it as balanced as we can.” With just five returning lettermen on the defensive side of the ball, there’s some opportunity to earn playing time. “We feel really good about what we do at the younger levels in getting kids in to play at the varsity level. It might not have been enough to earn a letter, but they got varsity experience,” the coach said. Miller added his team works each day to prepare for the big play on defense. “To any head coach, if you win the battle of turnovers, you win the game. We work every day on some sort of turnover or takeaway drills. That’s a big part of our defense,” he said. Manchester’s special teams won’t be built on getting someone playing time; instead Miller views them as a vital part of the game. “We’ll play our best (players) on offense, defense and special teams. People understand we want to win that third phase of the game,” he said. “A lot of people don’t put a lot of time in it, and we want to go out and win that part of the game, too. “Of course, we’re gonna use the chance to get some younger kids some time to play, but they’ll need to earn their spots.” Manchester is coming off a 4-6 season, hasn’t won a sectional game since 2011, and hasn’t won more than one postseason game in the past 20 seasons. So there’s a great desire for success on the field at Manchester, in spite of some youth on the roster. “A lot of people would look at the seniors we lost, and we lost a good group with some good athletes, and it’s been said by some coaches in the conference that we should be down,” Miller said. “I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people with the talent that we have and the speed that we have. We’re a fast team and our offensive and defensive lines are pretty good. So we’re looking to come out with a win in Game 1 versus Mississinewa in our newly formed conference. “We have some kids that are hungry to win.”
