Manhattan High football will close out the regular season Friday on senior night, hosting Washburn Rural with a Centennial League title on the line.<\/p>\n
After opening the season with losses to top teams Rockhurst and Mill Valley, the Indians (5-2) have won five straight and still have their season goals in front of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou compare this year to last year, we\u2019ve already accomplished one thing that we didn\u2019t do last year, which is to win the Silver Trophy,\u201d head coach Joe Schartz said. \u201cAnd if we beat Rural this week, we will accomplish another thing that we didn\u2019t accomplish last year, which is to win the Centennial League.\u201d<\/p>\n
Standing in the way of the Indians\u2019 league title is a familiar opponent. While the matchup might not carry the same rivalry intensity as Manhattan\u2019s games against Junction City, the two programs have a long history of competing against each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith all the youth sports in the area, living it through my kids, it doesn\u2019t matter what sport it is, whether it\u2019s football, basketball, baseball, soccer, it seems like the best competition in youth sports is always the Washburn Rural kids,\u201d Schartz said. \u201cOur kids have seen them since they were in second grade. They know them pretty well, and they typically have a lot of talent.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Junior Blues enter Friday\u2019s matchup with a 3-4 record after facing tough competition, including 5A powers Kapaun Mt. Carmel and Bishop Carroll, along with Nebraska\u2019s Millard West.<\/p>\n
Most recently, Washburn Rural fell 43-14 at Junction City. A win Friday would leave Manhattan as the only undefeated team in Centennial League play. If the Junior Blues upset the Indians, all three teams would finish with 3-1 league records.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just one of the goals that we set out every year to accomplish, and something that we weren\u2019t able to accomplish last year,\u201d Schartz said. \u201cIt would be another feather in the cap for these seniors, and a nice accomplishment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schartz said the seniors have consistently improved throughout the season, but the Indians still have plenty left to accomplish beyond the regular-season finale.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so much to accomplish yet. We are still in the mindset of going 1-0 each week, and we still have really big goals ahead of us,\u201d Schartz said. \u201cHopefully we can keep our focus, execute and play well Friday night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manhattan is coming off a 60-13 win over Topeka High, its fifth straight victory. The Indians rushed for 347 yards in the win.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe offensive line has made miles of improvement, and we\u2019ve settled in and have some consistency up front,\u201d Schartz said. \u201cThose kids are working together and communicating well, and our running backs have been the beneficiary of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winning the battle up front will be important again Friday. Washburn Rural senior defensive lineman Steven Cantrell, listed at 6-foot-4 and 270 pounds, presents a challenge for the Indians\u2019 offensive line.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe plays with a lot of intensity,\u201d Schartz said. \u201cHopefully our offensive line can continue to battle up there and be able to handle that defensive front.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the other side of the line, Manhattan\u2019s defense has been productive, recording 37 tackles for loss in league play. The Indians did so while facing flexbone offenses in consecutive games against Emporia and Topeka High.<\/p>\n
\u201cKadin Dibbini continues to be dominant, very difficult to block, and causes lots of chaos at the point of attack,\u201d Schartz said. \u201cOur linebackers have performed well. Max McAlpine and Liam Nider continue to rack up a ton of tackles every week, and they should. That means that the people in front of them are doing a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Indians will face a different challenge against Washburn Rural\u2019s run-pass option offense, which will require some adjustments in the secondary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis week will be a different challenge with the RPO style of offense that Washburn runs, and you\u2019ll see a little bit of different personnel in there because of that,\u201d Schartz said. \u201cSo we\u2019re going to have to utilize a few more DBs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Junior Blues\u2019 offense is anchored by running back Jadyn Baum, who rushed for 187 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-7 win over Topeka High this season. Baum has helped steady an offense that has dealt with injuries at quarterback.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have a big, powerful running back like him, you\u2019ve got to get him stopped before he gets going,\u201d Schartz said. \u201cHopefully we can continue to try to get some penetration and get in the backfield. If he gets a full head of steam, he\u2019ll definitely run over two or three guys before you\u2019re able to get him stopped, if you can get him stopped at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manhattan also hopes to secure the No. 3 seed in the Class 6A West bracket, which would give the Indians a chance to host their first two playoff games if they win their opener.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always a benefit to play at home. We have a home-field advantage. I think we always have good crowds, a lot of support, and it\u2019s fun for these kids to represent their families here in Manhattan,\u201d Schartz said.<\/p>\n
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at Bishop Stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manhattan High football will close out the regular season Friday on senior night, hosting Washburn Rural with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[8918,20467,11581,11583,19774,75,84,83,8919,11587,9,24,8920,8917,8921,63],"class_list":["post-379636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-american-football","tag-american-football-bowls","tag-college-football-conference-seasons","tag-gridiron-football","tag-lineman-gridiron-football","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-seasons","tag-nfl-teams","tag-nfl-teams-seasons","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379636","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=379636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}