Manville drops football opener

Team scores first but falls 12-7 in Newark

by Shawn Tyrrell, Sports Writer
   Last season when Manville High and Newark Central squared off against each other in the football season opener, the teams combined for a total of 62 points. This time around was much different.
   Central scored 12 points in the second half to post a 12-7 victory in a defensive struggle Saturday morning in Newark. It was a game that Manville controlled for the most part. Take away two plays and the Mustangs had this game in hand.
   ”We ran our defensive and offensive game plans to a T,” Manville head coach Brett Stibitz said afterward. “Everything I asked the kids to do, they did. They are a young team that unfortunately let one slip away.”
   The MHS offense controlled the tempo of the game and the clock.
   ”We did exactly what we wanted,” Stibitz said. “We ran the ball effectively and passed only when we had to. We have to do a better job of capitalizing in the red zone.”
   The Mustangs got a surprise effort from junior Brendan Nurnberger, who completed 6-of-7 passes for 95 yards. Even Stibitz was surprised a bit by the accuracy of the young quarterback. Nurnberger’s passing helped balance the Manville offense and is surely something the team will use more of in weeks to come.
   MHS got on the board first when Nurnberger connected with tight end Ryan Jankowski for an eight-yard score that gave the Mustangs a 7-0 lead, which they held until the middle of the third quarter. The Manville defense was stellar holding Central to no first downs at all in the first half.
   In the second half the momentum of the game changed when Manville went for a fourth down and inches at midfield and David Olmsted was stopped short by the Central defense on a quarterback keeper.
   ”Looking back now I probably should have called a timeout in this situation,” Stibitz said. “We were trying to run the clock out at this point. We could have run a different play. We had been successful all day running the football. I felt we could get the first down.”
   Central came back with a 52-yard pass play when quarterback Marquise Bacon completed the pass to Hakim Cobb to give Central the lead for good.
   The Mustangs had chances all day but just couldn’t get into the end zone. The other bad play that cost them was a bad snap on a punt that ended up being blocked deep in Manville territory resulting in the other score.
   Despite the defeat Stibitz knows this is a game his team should have had.
   ”This was the hardest loss in all my time here,” Stibitz said. “We had them where we wanted them but just couldn’t finish. They didn’t really stop us. We stopped ourselves.”
   The Mustangs will begin a four-week homestand of Friday night games at Ned Panfile Stadium when Jonathan Dayton Regional of Springfield comes to town Friday night. This is another game the Mustangs can win, but they’ll have to forget about how they dropped the first one.
   ”It will be a unique week of practice to see how the kids respond,” Stibitz said.