Manhattan High head coach Joe Schartz said it would be a four-quarter fight for the Indians\u2019 home-opener, and that\u2019s exactly what transpired Friday night at Bishop Stadium.<\/p>\n
The nightcap to a blazing hot day in the Flint Hills saw Manhattan’s season opener spoiled by one of Missouri\u2019s best.<\/p>\n
In the first matchup between Manhattan and Rockhurst, the Hawklets (1-1) had one more answer than the Indians could handle, taking a 32-28 win.<\/p>\n
“We had a lot of competitive spirit,” Schartz said after the game. “Played really hard. Just wasn’t able to execute down the stretch when it mattered. Lots of missed execution. First game, you expect that a little bit against a quality opponent.”<\/p>\n
Players from the two heavyweight programs battled each other and cramps on the torrid turf. In addition to the difficult conditions for the season opener, Manhattan was without a couple of key starters in linebacker and H-back Max Evans-Pryor and starting tight end Grant Watkins.<\/p>\n
“Very pleased with the kids that stepped up,” Schartz said. “We had multiple two-way players. A lot of kids went down. We we ran a lot of bodies in there, and we had some kids that stepped up willingly. I’m very proud of those kids that went in the game and and put it on the line.”<\/p>\n
Rockhurst struck first on a deep ball, taking advantage of Manhattan getting behind the chains on its first offensive possession of the season and forcing the Indians to punt.<\/p>\n
“They were able to correct their mistakes,” Schartz said. “This is Game 1 for us, Game 2 for them. So that could have been some of it, but mostly it’s that we have to execute.”<\/p>\n
Manhattan quickly answered, with backup tight end Tyson Hattrup stepping in for Watkins. Hattrup caught three passes for 42 yards on the drive, including a 20-yard pickup on third down, setting up Mclain Aslin\u2019s 4-yard touchdown run to tie the game.<\/p>\n
“Tyson is an athlete, has ball skills,” Schartz said. “We challenged him to block and he did from that tight end position. He really stepped up. So very pleased with him, and it’s going to be fun to watch him for the next two years.”<\/p>\n
Rockhurst responded with its second touchdown of the night, taking a 13-7 lead after a missed extra-point attempt. After an interception thrown by Aslin, the Hawklets were knocking on the door of a two-score lead late in the first half.<\/p>\n
But then came the defining moment of the half.<\/p>\n
Rockhurst dropped a wide-open touchdown pass, and on the ensuing play, senior captain Joseph Mortensen jumped an errant pass and returned it 96 yards for a touchdown as the first-half clock expired. The crowd at Bishop Stadium erupted as Mortensen sprinted down the sideline, broke tackles and followed blockers into the end zone.<\/p>\n
The huge swing of momentum gave Manhattan a 14-13 lead at halftime.<\/p>\n
After Manhattan forced a punt out of the break, the speedy Mortensen was off to the races again.<\/p>\n
This time on offense, the senior broke free on a handoff to the sideline and won a 76-yard footrace to the blue Bishop Stadium end zone.<\/p>\n
“Joe stepped up, made plays and kept us in the game,” Schartz said. “He’s a valuable player and performed well for us tonight.”<\/p>\n
The Hawklets responded on the next drive with a fourth-down score, but failed the two-point attempt to tie, leaving Manhattan with a 21-19 lead.<\/p>\n
Rockhurst took the lead back on its next possession as a broken flea-flicker play still cost the Indians with a 50-yard touchdown catch-and-run. Another two-point attempt was snuffed out by the Indians\u2019 defense, keeping the deficit at 25-21.<\/p>\n
With the offense starting to stall, Manhattan needed another spark from its defense.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when sophomore linebacker Max McAlpine scooped up a fumble in the backfield, setting up the Indians at midfield.<\/p>\n
That ignited a successful drive for the Indians, as Aslin found Hattrup for a 25-yard catch to set up the quarterback to punch in another short touchdown run. The Indians took a 28-25 lead with four minutes to go.<\/p>\n
“He’s a warrior,” Schartz said of Aslin. “He’s out there struggling physically with cramping, but he kept battling. You can win a lot of games with a kid like that. That’s a competitor. We have to correct the mistakes, and he knows that he’ll get better.”<\/p>\n
Rockhurst answered immediately.<\/p>\n
On the first play of the drive, Hawklet quarterback Garrett Miller found Tristan Johnson behind the Indians\u2019 defense for a 74-yard touchdown pass, giving Rockhurst a 32-28 lead.<\/p>\n
It was a fight to the end, but Rockhurst came up with one final stop on Manhattan\u2019s last drive, and the Hawklets left Bishop Stadium with a win.<\/p>\n
“I want to reiterate that I’m not upset with the kids’ competitive spirit,” Schartz said. “They really played hard. But the fact is, we have to execute better down the stretch, and that comes in practice. We have to concentrate in practice.”<\/p>\n
Manhattan starts its 6A state title defense season 0-1.<\/p>\n
The Indians face another top opponent from the Kansas City metro next week, traveling to Mill Valley for another Friday night heavyweight matchup.<\/p>\n
“It’s the same recipe,” Schartz said of preparing for next week. “It’s the same every week. We’re watching film, and we’re going to stretch, run and turn the page.”<\/p>\n
ROCKHURST 32,<\/p>\n
MANHATTAN 28,<\/p>\n
Rockhurst (1-1) \u2014 7; 6; 12; 7; \u2014 32<\/p>\n
Manhattan (0-1) \u2014 0; 14; 7; 7; \u2014 28<\/p>\n
SCORING SUMMARY<\/p>\n
Rockhurst \u2014 Miller 36-yard pass TD to Johnson, PAT good by Devereux, 4:24 1Q<\/p>\n
Manhattan \u2014 Aslin 4-yard rush TD, PAT good by Stewart, 11:09 2Q<\/p>\n
Rockhurst \u2014 Miller 7-yard pass TD to Walsh, PAT no good, 5:46 2Q<\/p>\n
Manhattan \u2014 Mortensen 96-yard pick-six, PAT good by Stewart, End 2Q<\/p>\n
Manhattan \u2014 Mortensen 76-yard rush TD, PAT good by Stewart, 7:43 3Q<\/p>\n
Rockhurst \u2014 Miller 26-yard pass TD to Lewandowski, 2 pt. no good, 5:02 3Q<\/p>\n
Rockhurst \u2014 Miller 50-yard pass TD to Brewster, 2 pt. no good, 0:33 3Q<\/p>\n
Manhattan \u2014 Manhattan \u2014 Aslin 4-yard rush TD, PAT good by Stewart, 4:10 4Q<\/p>\n
Rockhurst \u2014 Miller 74-yard pass TD to Johnson, PAT good by Devereux, 3:48 4Q<\/p>\n
INDIVIDUAL STATS<\/p>\n
Passing \u2014 Manhattan: Aslin [9-16-92-0-2]. Rockhurst: Miller [16-21-263-5]<\/p>\n
Rushing \u2014 Manhattan: Massenburg [4-10], Aslin [22-107-2], Mortensen [6-83-1]. Rockhurst: Lewandowski [23-44], Miller [3-7]<\/p>\n
Receiving \u2014 Manhattan: Hattrup [4-67], Dunnigan [1-1], Alali [3-31]. Rockhurst: Johnson [6-134-2], Walsh [2-6-1], Lewandowski [4-45-1], Brewster [1-50-1]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manhattan High head coach Joe Schartz said it would be a four-quarter fight for the Indians\u2019 home-opener, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[8918,15952,11581,27273,11583,11584,75,84,83,8919,11587,9,24,11586,8920,8917,8921,63,11585],"class_list":["post-338907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-american-football","tag-american-football-playoffs","tag-college-football-conference-seasons","tag-conversion-gridiron-football","tag-gridiron-football","tag-gridiron-football-variants","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-national-football-league","tag-ncaa-division-i-fbs-football-teams","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nfl-playoffs","tag-nfl-seasons","tag-nfl-teams","tag-nfl-teams-seasons","tag-nyc","tag-seasons-in-american-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}