NORTH MANCHESTER – Friday night marked the final regular season home game for the outgoing Manchester Squire senior class before next week’s IHSAA state tournament. The Squires will have the chance to play at least one more game on their home floor, but Friday’s game against Goshen was less than ideal going in to the postseason. Senior Chase Fierstos led all scorers with 13 points, but it was not enough as Manchester fell 59-42 to the RedHawks. Classmate Keelan Norwood added 10 points for the Squires (13-9 overall, 6-3 TRC), while junior David McAtee posted eight points. Seniors Braydon Sewell and Zach Hill finished with four and three points, respectively. For Goshen (9-13 overall, 3-4 NLC), senior Colton Potter led the RedHawks’ scoring with 12, with nine of those points coming from beyond the three-point arc. Junior forward Eliot Nafziger scored 11 points, and senior guards Cam Kline & Brady Bechtel added eight points each. In the first quarter, the Squires played with intensity and they got out to a 10-3 lead. But a furious rally from the RedHawks at the end of the quarter resulted in a 14-12 lead and a momentum shift for the visitors. “We matched the level of intensity that Goshen had, but after we held a 10-3 lead, they made two threes. They lifted their intensity up another level and we did not match it,” said Manchester coach Eric Thompson. “From then on, they hit quite a few shots.” The RedHawks did not look back the rest of the night. In the third quarter, the Squires were outscored 19-7 and faced a 19-point deficit going into the final quarter of action. Goshen connected five times from three-point territory in the third, and Manchester just could not match the Red Hawks’ shooting touch in the second half. “They did more right than we did, and they played a lot tougher and stronger than we did,” Thompson said. “We didn’t have the intensity we needed until it was too late.” Manchester drew a bye for the sectional and will await the winner of Tuesday’s match up between Wabash and Southwood. Manchester and Tuesday’s winner are slated to tipoff in a 6 p.m. semifinal on Friday. Despite the loss to Goshen, Thompson said he and his players ate not discouraged going into the postseason. “We still see a lot of good things we are doing. No matter who wins on Tuesday between Southwood and Wabash, we are going to be playing a county school. That’s always a big rivalry,” Thompson said. “They know what they’ve got to do to make corrections to win this thing. We get a week to prepare, so we’ll go from there.”
GOSHEN 59, MANCHESTER 42 Gosh 14 13 19 13 – 59 Man 12 8 7 15 – 42 Manchester scoring – Chase Fierstos 13, Keelan Norwood 10, David McAtee 8, Koehl Fluke 4, Braydon Sewell 4, Zach Hill 3 Goshen scoring – Colton Potter 12, Eliot Nafziger 11, Cam Kline 8, Brady Bechtel 8, James Paetkau 7, CJ Detwiler 6, Mitchell Walters 5, Clayton Litwiller 2 Records: Goshen 9-13, Manchester 13-9
