For the first time, possibly in school history, the Manchester Township Varsity Football program is in the driver’s seat to win an outright division title. Manchester posts a singular banner from its football program- a Patriot division co-championship from the 2020-21 season. The hard part is out of the way for the Hawks, beating arguably their 3 toughest competitors for the division, Pinelands, Jackson Liberty and Barnegat last night, in their three game home stand. A single win against either Monmouth or Lakewood in the coming weeks would secure at least a share of the division title, and winning both would win the division outright, which would be a historic moment in the program’s history.
Barnegat and Manchester have long been fierce rivals across all sports, but perhaps none match the intensity between the two football teams, especially in recent years. Going into last night’s game, Barnegat held a 2-1 advantage in the rivalry over the last 4 years. Add a possible division title and make it the homecoming game for Manchester and the stakes were evidently higher than ever. This was no mystery to the Hawks. Senior Captain and linebacker Dante Mortellite described the stakes of the game and what the win meant to him,
“Coming into this season we knew that Pinelands and Barnegat were going to be a problem if we wanted to become division champs of C-South and after we beat Pinelands next up was Barnegat. We’ve always played Barnegat at Barnegat and we finally got to bring them into the hawks nest so we knew that this game was going to be special. This win meant a lot because it solidified our spot as number one in the division and put us in the driver’s seat for winning the division”.
Mortellite recorded 8 tackles in the win to up his season total to 53.
Quarterback Aidan Lunn gave his point of view of the win as the headman of the offense, stating,
“Winning this game was huge for us. We knew if we won this game we were in the driver’s seat for the division and we went out there and did our job and achieved that. Being the leader of the team while winning this game was an amazing feeling. Feeling the pressure is a hard thing knowing Barnegat’s plan was to stop me”.
Lunn was 7/11 passing for 130 yards and 1 touchdown and ran for 85 yards and 1 touchdown on 11 attempts as well.
Manchester took the early lead in the first quarter off a 37 yard touchdown pass from Lunn to senior receiver Marquis Goins. Barnegat brought the game within a point after stringing together a nice drive late in the second quarter and finishing it off with a 1 yard rush from Myquan Rush. As the half expired, senior kicker Ian Spicer put through a 25 yard field goal to put him at ⅘ on the year.
After trading touchdowns in the third quarter, Lunn put a cap on the game with a 12 yard rushing touchdown to make it 24-12.
Manchester finishes off their four game home stand this Saturday, October 5, against Rumson- the #3 ranked team in the Shore Conference.
