On homecoming night, the last thing the home team wants to do is lose.  But a surging Manchester offense took control in the second half, reading Lee-Davis defenders, adjusting from the line and taking down the Confederates 39-27 during homecoming this past weekend. 

  For both teams the first and second halves were as different as night and day. 

  After punting the ball from their own 9-yard line on fourth-and-25, Manchester recouped the ball in Lee-Davis territory, but immediately turned it over on a deep pass to the right side retrieved by Confederate, and homecoming prince, Will Connerley.  Despite a 15-yard penalty against the Lancers, Lee-Davis quarterback Will Burton only managed to get the ball to the Confederates’ 40 before having to punt.  Burton’s 54-yard boot, however, was fumbled and recovered by teammate Brandon Angus, putting the Confederates on the Manchester’s six. 

  Two plays later, Lee-Davis’ Tucker Walton punched it in from the five, and Connerly was there to reign in a David Fetter pass in the end zone for the two-point conversion putting the Confederates on the board 8-0.

  Manchester answered seven plays later with a Brandon Chiles 44-yard sweep left to put six on the board.  The fake kick by James Salmons and attempted Marcus Jefferson run around the right was shut down by a quickly responding Confederates’ special teams to keep the score 8-6. 

  Angus was showing signs of having a big night with an 80-yard kick off return but it was called back due to a holding penalty.  So starting from Manchester’s 35, Burton began running Walton and passing to Justin Becker to set up an option play where Walton scored from the six on pushing the Confederates lead to 14- 6 after a failed PAT.

  Manchester’s quarterback, Tyler Henderson managed to move the chains on three keeper plays, but an ensuing fumble came up in Lee-Davis’ hands. 

  Back on offense the C-fed’s’ 6-4, 200 lb. Burton immediately launched a 52-yard end zone bomb from a mind-boggling flea-flicker to T.J. Harvey, and Angus’s extra-point put the Confederates up 21-6.

  Henderson set up a five-minute drive from Manchester’s 21 and Antonio Brown rumbled in from the 13 after doing the lion’s share of the drive’s ground gains.  But Brown was stopped on the ensuing two-point try leaving the score 21-12 at the half.

  Lancer’s head coach Tom Hall said his team made adjustments after the break. “Coming out in the second half, I think the kids just came out and rallied and did what we asked them to do.”  Such was evidenced as Manchester quickly set up a scoring pass/run in four plays. David Wilburn yanked in a Henderson pass from the Lee-Davis 44, running in the last 15 yards.  Salmon’s kick was good to bring Manchester within two, 21-19.

  The Confederates fired back and nine plays later Harvey hauled in a 12-yard Burton pass to push Lee-Davis ahead 27-19 after a failed PAT.

  Despite a couple of holding penalties, one of which called back a touchdown run, the Lancer’s Henderson closed the distance once again with an 11-yard keeper. The failed conversion left Manchester trailing by two, 27-25.

  The Lancers’ defenders then ramped up the pressure and the Confederates punted long to start Manchester from their 18.  With 8:32 to play, Brown ran in from the 11 for his second score of the evening, putting the Lancers on top for the first time.  Salmon’s kick made the margin 27-32.

  The Manchester D continued to shut down the Confederates’ offense and the scoring ended with Henderson diving in from the one to create the final margin.
  Despite recent history, Hall said he approached the game as if Lee-Davis was a ranked opponent. “We approached this as a major game,” he said. “Coach (Jason) Meade is doing an awesome job here at Lee-Davis; and with the teams they lost to Hermitage, and playing Varina tough and losing only by one point to Patrick Henry, we knew it was going to be a challenge.”

  On the opposite sideline, Meade accepted the blame for the loss.  “Like I told (the players) in the game, this one goes on my shoulders,” he said. “We gave up 39 points to a good team.  Manchester is a solid football team, no doubt.  But, it’s partially things we’re doing; so we need to self-evaluate where we are and that goes back on me.”

  For Lee-Davis’ Connerley,  there was both good and bad to be taken from the game. “We battled all the way through the game,” he said. “We fought hard. The offense looked a lot better than they did last week (against Varina).  They came through.  I just personally think the defense had a little bit of ups and downs during the game.  That’s what hurt us.  Little mistakes here and there.  Little mistakes kill big games like this against good teams.  You just can’t have that.”

  Still Meade is optimistic about the remainder of the Confederates’ season. “It’s a non-district game,” he said. “The bottom line is we still need some help to get into the playoffs.  We can still go 5-1 in the district; and that would be a big accomplishment.  We played football good enough to beat those district teams.  Easily, we played football good enough to beat them.  That’s not meant to be an arrogant statement, but I have confidence with what the kids bring to the field.”

Manchester 6 6 13 14 -39
Lee-Davis 8 13 6 0 – 27

LD - Walton 4 run (Fetter pass to Connerley
M - Chiles 44 run (run failed)
LD - Walton 6 run (kick failed)
LD - Harvey 52 pass from Burton (Angus kick)
M - Brown 12 run (run failed)
M - Wilburn 44 pass from Henderson (Salmons kick
LD - Harvey 8 pass from Burton (run failed)
M - Henderson 11 run (pass failed)
M - Brown 11 run (Salmons kick)
M - Henderson 1 run (Salmons kick)

RUSHING
Manchester: Chiles 14 carries 150 yards; Henderson 12-71; Brown 9-54; Wilburn 1-1. Lee-Davis: Walton 22-68; Burton 9-18; Wyatt 1-minus 4
PASSING
Manchester: Henderson 18 completions 24 attempts 237 yards 1 interception Lee-Davis: Burton 14-20-179-0
RECEIVING
Manchester: Wilburn 7 receptions 100 yards; Bell 3-46; Chiles 2-49; Pugh 3-24; Brown 1-7; Holmes 1-8, Charity 1-3 Lee-Davis: Harvey 6-110; Marlowe 2-13; Becker 5-48; Connerley 1-6