MHS Blue Devils Tame Schley Wildcats

The Manchester High Blue Devils took to the road on Friday, Aug. 28 and traveled down South to Ellaville to take on the Schley County High Wildcats. The Blue Devils took an early lead in the game and it appeared would cruise to an easy win but the Wildcats battled back late and made a game of it. However, the never quit Blue Devils managed to hold on and return home with a 28-20 victory.
The Blue Devils wasted not time getting on the scoreboard and took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter of play. Senior Jacori Anthony scored the first touchdown for Manchester and junior Kartavias Gamble also found the end zone in the first half. Junior Brady Daniel split the uprights on both point after attempts.
It was not until about three minutes left to play in the first half that the Blue Devils increased the lead. Junior Jaleel McMillan intercepted a Wildcat pass and returned to it to the Blue Devil 40-yard line. It only took six plays for the Blue Devils to find the end zone and capped the 60-yard drive with a 45-yard pass from senior Jaden Hodo to junior Justus Kempson. Daniel was true on his third extra point try and the Blue Devils had increased the lead to 21-0.
The Blue Devils forced the Wildcats to punt on the team’s next offensive possession and took over the footbll on their own 35-yard line. On first and 10, Hodo connected with junior Maliki Horton for a 65-yard strike with less than a minute left to play in the third quarter. Daniel split the uprights for the fourth time of the night and it appeared the Blue Devils were in control of the game, but the Wildcats had a different idea.
The Wildcats scored two touchdowns in the third quarter and cut the Blue Devil lead to 28-13 and then added a touchdown in the fourth quarter to make the score 28-20. The Blue Devils received the return kick with just under two minutes left to play in the game and expired the clock to take the win.
Hodo was 3-for-4 passing for 138-yards and two touchdowns on the night. Kempson had two receptions for 77-yads and a touchdown and Horton had one reception for 65-yards and a touchdown.
Gamble rushed for 131-yards on 10 carries and scored a touchdown and Anthony rushed for 45-yards and a touchdown on eight carries.
Overall the Blue Devils put up 397-yards of offense. While the defense held the Wildcats to 264-yards.
Sophomore Cornelius Ford and senior Kenyatta Brawner finished the night with 10 tackles each; McMillan had eight tackles and an interception and senior Tommy Bowles had eight tackles and two tackles for a loss. As a team, the Blue Devils finished the night with 75 tackles.
The Blue Devils improve to 1-1 with the victory.
1 2 3 4 Final
MHS 14 14 0 0 28
SCH 0 0 13 7 20
Up next for the Blue Devils
Tomorrow night, Friday, Sept. 4, the Blue Devils will host the Taylor County High Vikings. The Vikings are boasting a 2-0 record and defeating Pike County in the season opener by a score of 28-17 and defeating Mt. Zion High this past Friday night by a score of 35-7.
The Vikings do a good job of mixing the run and pass attack and look to senior quarterback Leland Holder to lead the offense. Holder was 3-for-5 passing against Mt. Zion for 157-yards and a touchdown. His favorite targets in the passing game are junior Garrett Raines and senior Ty’quavion Pinkard. Raines had two receptions for 87-yards against Mt. Zion and Pinkard had one reception for397-yard
Defensively, the Vikings look to Zayquan Dozier for leadership. Dozier had 12 tackles against Mt. Zion.
Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.