Manchester Central football outlasts Manchester Memorial

MANCHESTER - From start to finish, Saturday's football game between Manchester Central and Manchester Memorial was a shootout, and it was the Little Green who came out on top, 47-40.

The action started at the opening kickoff, when Memorial fumbled the ball, and the Little Green recovered, immediately giving Central a short field. Central was able to take advantage of its field position and capped off the first drive with a 17-yard touchdown run by running back Javell Desir, his first of four on the day.

After showing strong defense early, Central was able to push the score to 13-0 on Desir’s second touchdown, a dive from the 1-yard line.

From that point on Memorial showed up in all facets of the game as the Crusaders scored 20 straight points. They created three first-half turnovers and recovered an onside kick and eventually took a 26-19 lead going into halftime

Memorial quarterback, Chris Coburn was involved with all six of the Crusaders' touchdowns, four through the air and two on the ground.

“He has really taken time to learn this offense and put his receivers in the best position to succeed," Memorial coach Peter Colcord said of Coburn. “This is a young team and this performance, especially on offense, is something we are happy with. Our starting line has three guys who were JV wide receivers and running backs (last season), and are filling in there because we need them.”

Colcord’s offense remained constant heading into the second half, but that is also when Central’s offense arrived.

After a Central interception on a fourth-down play, the Little Green drove 62 yards to score a touchdown when Alex Hawkom threw one of his two touchdown passes; the Central quarterback also ran for one. That gave Central a 27-26 lead and at this point it seemed that conversions could make the difference in the outcome, as both teams had extra points missed or blocked.

Following the Central possession, Memorial responded with a rushing touchdown by Coburn. This touchdown came off the back of an 80-yard reception between Coburn and leading receiver Johnny Vargas, who finished with 130 yards.

After a Hawkom rushing touchdown gave Central a 33-32 edge, Memorial responded with a drive capped off by a 27-yard touchdown reception by Tyrique Noel, who finished with 114 yards and three TDs of his own.

But on the very next play from scrimmage, Hawkom completed a 77-yard TD pass to wide receiver Nick Olibrice. This pushed the score to 41-40 Central, and after blocking a punt on Memorial’s next possession, Central was able to wear out the much smaller Crusaders, giving the Little Green the victory.

“I am not necessarily happy with the way my team played, especially the defense, but we won with the 11 guys we had out there and we will take the win," Central coach Ryan Ray said. "We have things to work on in practice this week.”

The Little Green (1-1) look to continue their momentum into next week when they host Spaulding (0-2) in their Gill Stadium opener. Memorial (0-2) looks to get into the win column when it heads to Portsmouth (1-1).