MAIZE \u2014 Maize High has only lost twice with star quarterback Brayden Myovela under center \u2014 and both came at the hands of Manhattan.<\/p>\n
The Indians (9-2) secured back-to-back sub-state championship appearances Friday night with a near-flawless 55-31 road win over the previously undefeated Eagles, ending Maize\u2019s 10-0 season.<\/p>\n
Head coach Joe Schartz said he was most proud of Manhattan’s physical dominance over Maize.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The fact that we took their heart away from them, and they gave up there in the second half,” Schartz said. “That’s football \u2014 one team has to go exert their will on the other and make the other team not want to play anymore. And that’s what we did tonight.”<\/p>\n
The victory also sets up a second straight matchup with Derby for the 6A West title after the No. 6 Panthers stunned No. 2 Wichita Northwest 63-21. It will mark the fourth consecutive postseason meeting between Manhattan and Derby.<\/p>\n
The opening half unfolded as a back-and-forth heavyweight bout between two of 6A\u2019s top teams, but the second half belonged entirely to Manhattan. Capitalizing on a double-score \u2014 points before halftime and again to open the third quarter \u2014 the Indians seized control and never let go.<\/p>\n
Manhattan then slammed the door, outscoring Maize 21-0 in the third quarter to build a 49-17 lead and silence a once-ravenous home crowd.<\/p>\n
After delivering its most complete performance of the season last week against Wichita Southeast, Manhattan somehow managed to raise the bar even higher on Friday night.<\/p>\n
“Football \u2014 sometimes we make it more complicated than it has to be,” Schartz said. “You have to get off the ball. Everybody has to do their job to the best of their ability. We’ve been really doing that here as of late, playing well as a team \u2014 executing well on both sides of the ball and special teams.”<\/p>\n
Senior quarterback Finn Watson delivered one of his most efficient performances of the season, responding to a first-quarter pick-six by settling in and guiding the offense. He finished 10-of-12 for 163 yards.<\/p>\n
“To Finn’s credit, he calmed down after that and made better decisions,” Schartz said. “He protected the football. And that’s growth from him, because in our two losses, we just continued to have turnovers.”<\/p>\n
Senior playmaker JJ Dunnigan added two touchdowns \u2014 including a kickoff return that immediately erased Watson\u2019s lone mistake \u2014 and caught three passes for 50 yards, highlighted by a 15-yard score.<\/p>\n
“JJ’s kick return was huge,” Schartz said. “It gave us that energy back and let us know that we’re right back here, and we’re going to be here tonight.”<\/p>\n
Junior Joseph Mortensen continued his emergence as Manhattan\u2019s red-zone hammer, piling up 76 yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries for his second straight hat trick.<\/p>\n
How it happened<\/p>\n
Maize opened the night driving, but Manhattan ended it at the goal line when Nisbyc Johnson intercepted a pass in the end zone to keep the Eagles off the board. The momentum didn\u2019t last as Maize\u2019s Pierce George jumped a pass right back and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown.<\/p>\n
“I read the play, and I knew what they were doing,” Johnson said. “I was blessed enough to get a pick. On top of that, my guys, they forced them to the left, enabling me to get the pick.”<\/p>\n
Then, the response came just as quickly. Maize kicked deep to Dunnigan, and the senior Miami commit made them pay, slicing through traffic \u2014 and a facemask \u2014 for an 83-yard kickoff return touchdown to tie the game at 7-7 just 13 seconds later.<\/p>\n
“I’ve had problems struggling with just making decisions,” Watson said. “But JJ’s kick return really just boosted everybody’s confidence, especially mine. So that’s got me going in the right direction.”<\/p>\n
Manhattan threatened again late in the quarter after a third-down catch and run by Dunnigan set up the offense at the Maize 11, but the game remained tied heading into the second. That\u2019s when Mortensen capped the possession with a 6-yard touchdown run, giving the Indians their first lead at 14-7 with 11:07 remaining in the half.<\/p>\n
Maize answered with a 27-yard field goal, but the Indians\u2019 offense continued to settle in after the early pick-six. Mortensen punched in his second touchdown of the night, a 10-yard keeper behind the left side, extending the margin to 21-10. Maize responded quickly \u2014 Shannon Jones broke loose for a 32-yard rushing touchdown to make it 21-17 with 6:01 left.<\/p>\n
Manhattan\u2019s next drive stalled just outside the red zone, but the defense delivered a key stop to flip field position. With a short field and less than two minutes left, Watson engineered an efficient two-minute drill, and Dunnigan finished it off, breaking multiple tackles on a 15-yard catch-and-run touchdown. Manhattan took a 28-17 lead into halftime.<\/p>\n
Manhattan blew the game open coming out of halftime. On the first play of the third quarter, Ja\u2019Marcus Vornes sprinted 60 yards on a jet sweep \u2014 following up the score Manhattan punched in before the break \u2014 to push the lead to 35-17 with 10:16 remaining.<\/p>\n
“Ja’Marcus has fought back from injury and has struggled to get back to 100%,” Schartz said. “I don’t think he’s still at 100% yet but it was nice to see him be able to contribute in a big way \u2014 he’s earned it.”<\/p>\n
Moments later, Johnson hauled in his second interception of the night, setting up Mortensen for his third rushing touchdown, a 10-yard keeper that extended the margin to 42-17 at the 9:22 mark.<\/p>\n
“Just a dagger,” Johnson said. “That was my mindset \u2014 dagger \u2014 dominate the guy in front of me every single play. I told my guys before the game started, ‘Go pound them go dominate the guy in front of you. Believe in yourself, believe in your coaching, believe in your brothers, and, most importantly, believe in God,’ \u2014 That’s what we did tonight.”<\/p>\n
The Indians never slowed. Max Evans-Pryor added a 7-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter, and senior Jack Crocker collected his first career touchdown on a 5-yard carry early in the fourth, stretching the lead to 55-17 with 4:29 to play.<\/p>\n
Maize added two late scores \u2014 a George kickoff return and a 14-yard touchdown run by Myovela \u2014 but the damage had long been done.<\/p>\n
Kickoff versus Derby will be at Bishop Stadium on Friday.<\/p>\n
MANHATTAN 55,<\/p>\n
MAIZE 31<\/p>\n
Manhattan (9-2) \u2014 7; 21; 21 6; \u2014 55<\/p>\n
Maize (10-1) \u2014 7; 10; 0; 14; \u2014 31<\/p>\n
SCORING SUMMARY<\/p>\n
Maize \u2014 George 25-yard pick-6, PAT good, 5:56 1Q<\/p>\n
Manhattan \u2014 Dunnigan 83-yard kick return TD, PAT good by Balderson, 5:43 1Q<\/p>\n
Manhattan \u2014 Mortensen 6-yard TD run, PAT good by Balderson, 11:07 2Q<\/p>\n
Maize \u2014 27-yard FG good, 8:17 2Q<\/p>\n
Manhattan \u2014 Mortensen 10-yard TD run, PAT good by Balderson, 6:31 2Q<\/p>\n
Maize \u2014 Jones 32-yard rush TD, PAT good, 6:01 2Q<\/p>\n
Manhattan \u2014 Dunnigan 15-yard TD pass from Watson, 0:18 2Q<\/p>\n
Manhattan \u2014 Vornes 60-yard TD run, PAT good by Balderson,10:16 3Q<\/p>\n
Manhattan \u2014 Mortensen 10-yard TD run, PAT good by Balderson, 9:22 3Q<\/p>\n
Manhattan \u2014 Evans-Pryor 7-yard TD run, PAT good by Balderson, 1:06 3Q<\/p>\n
Manhattan \u2014 Crocker 5-yard TD run, two-point conversion no good, 4:29 4Q<\/p>\n
Maize \u2014 George kickoff return TD, PAT good, 4:16 4Q<\/p>\n
Maize \u2014 Myovela 14-yard TD run, PAT good, 3:35 4Q<\/p>\n
INDIVIDUAL STATS<\/p>\n
Passing \u2014 Manhattan: Watson 10-12-163-0-1. Maize: Myovela 6-16-89-0-2<\/p>\n
Rushing \u2014 Manhattan: Davis 18-86, Watson, 7-20, Mortensen 10-76-3, Vornes 2-76-1, Evans-Pryor 2-27-1, Massenberg 7-34. Maize: Myovela 11-34-1, Jones 8-53-1, Smith 7-27<\/p>\n
Receiving \u2014 Manhattan: Dunnigan 3-50-1, Davis 3-38, Gaona 2-43, Henry 1-30. Maize: George 3-45, Jones 1-18, Stanley 1-11<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MAIZE \u2014 Maize High has only lost twice with star quarterback Brayden Myovela under center \u2014 and both…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[8918,11582,11581,11583,11584,15953,75,84,83,8919,9,24,8920,8917,8921,63,2685,11585,8916,4027,11579],"class_list":["post-40435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-american-football","tag-champion-seasons-in-american-football","tag-college-football-conference-seasons","tag-gridiron-football","tag-gridiron-football-variants","tag-interception","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-national-football-league","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nfl-seasons","tag-nfl-teams","tag-nfl-teams-seasons","tag-nyc","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-seasons-in-american-football","tag-seasons-in-american-sport","tag-team-sports","tag-touchdown"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40435","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=40435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}