NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. - The Manchester University football program honor its senior class prior to their HCAC clash with Defiance College on Saturday, October 28. Sixteen football seniors along with one cheer senior were honored in the pregame ceremony at Spartan Stadium.
The Yellow Jackets took Saturday's contest by a final score of 51-27.
The turnover bug plagued the Spartans again this weekend. Defiance came away with a pair of takeaways in the opening quarter, converting two interceptions into 10 points. The Yellow Jackets forced a third and fourth interception in the second and third quarters.
The Spartans steadied themselves just before the half, scoring a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter's final three minutes. Quarterback Eric James (Indianapolis, Ind., Decatur Central) connected with Duriel Moss Jr. (Homestead, Fla., Christopher Columbus) for a 44-yard touchdown pass to put the Spartans up 14-10 with just over three minutes left in the first quarter. After recovering an onside kick, the Spartans got the ball back and completed a 40-yard drive in just under three minutes to pull ahead 21-10. James connected with Jordan Barnett (Fort Wayne, Ind., Snider) on a 14-yard pass for Manchester's third touchdown of the first half. The Spartan defense would hold off the Yellow Jackets to take the 21-17 lead at halftime.
Following the intermission, the Yellow Jackets increased their lead over Manchester, outscoring the Spartans 28-0 in the third quarter. Manchester senior Justin Major (Monroe, Mich., Jefferson) forced a Defiance fumble in the fourth quarter. Devontay Moore (Indianapolis, Ind., North Central) would recover the fumble and the Spartan offense would convert the turnover into six more points thanks to a 10-yard run by Josiah Ansorena-Smith (Ludowici, Ga., Long County) with less than a minute left on the game clock.
Defiance put up 490 yards of total offense. The Spartans tallied 323 yards of offense, throwing for 237 yards, while gaining 86 yards on the ground.
Eric James accounted for three touchdowns on Saturday - throwing for all three TDs. Josiah Ansorena-Smith led the Black and Gold with 75 rushing yards on 14 carries. Ansorena-Smith also had 109 yards on seven kickoff returns for Manchester. Moss Jr. had 77 receiving yards and one touchdown. Jordan Barnett tallied 53 reception yards and two touchdowns during Saturday's contest.
Defensively, senior Jamaal Hubbard (Russelville, Ala., Russelville) led with 15 total tackles, including 13 solo tackles. seven tackles. Blake Haiflich (Ossian, Ind., Norwell) and David Dent (Cochran, Ga., Bleckley County) added six tackles for MU. Jaylen Grimes (Goulds, Fla., Christopher Columbus) and Sam Huffman (Bremen, Ind., Bremen) combined for a sack on Saturday afternoon.
Up next, Manchester football will travel to Franklin College on Saturday, November 4 for a 1:30 p.m. meeting with the Grizzlies.
