MEMPHIS — The Manistee football team kicked off the 2020 season on Saturday with a feat the program hasn't seen since 2011: a shutout.
The Chippewas were dominant in all phases of the game against the Memphis Yellowjackets, en route to a runaway 53-0 victory on the road.
"We just played very physical," said Manistee coach Troy Bytwork. "Coming out of last year, we challenged ourselves to get stronger, bigger and more aggressive. And we've got a nice mix of kids now that are pretty sizable, and they like to get at it.
"They're feisty and testy in all the right ways," he said. "They've got an edge to them."
Manistee last shut out an opponent on Sept 9, 2011, with a 32-0 drubbing of Lakeview. The Chippewas' victory on Saturday was even more thorough as they jumped out to a 37-0 lead by halftime.
"Defensively, we played lights out," Bytwork said. "No matter the opponent, to shut somebody out is impressive. This group has speed, size and physicality, so we want to put them out there and just let them play. All those things certainly showed today."
Clearly, the Chippewas were firing on all cylinders with the ball as well, even in the face of some unexpected adversity as senior quarterback Keelan Eskridge went down and out with an injury early in the contest.
"We kind of went into a pseudo-Single Wing for a while with (senior running back) Landen Powers at quarterback," Bytwork said. "We got physical up front and he just scored a bunch. He did really well back there."
Powers led the charge on the ground with 137 of the team's 314 total yards with four touchdowns on just 13 carries. He also punched in a trio of 2-point conversions.
Before the injury, Eskridge rushed for 26 yards to go with a 15-yard pass for a touchdown. Defensively, he returned an interception for 45 yards.
Manistee's Brady Mikula caught a 15-yard touchdown pass and backup quarterback Jeff Huber connected with receiver Connor Rischel for a 54-yard touchdown to contribute to the offensive onslaught.
Keith Barke led the Chippewas' defense with 14 tackles, including two for loss. Connor Beaudrie tallied six tackles (one for loss), while Joey Kott had two tackles, one sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery for a touchdown.
The Chippewas are scheduled to host Orchard View at 7 p.m. on Friday.
September 21, 2020 at 03:00AM
https://ift.tt/35UrWiA
Chips dominant in opener at Memphis - Manistee News Advocate
https://ift.tt/2RGyUAH
Chips
No comments:
Post a Comment