Manchester West football grinds out win over Kingswood

MANCHESTER - The Manchester West High School football team got some momentum from its defense going into halftime of Friday night's game against Kingswood.

The offense made sure to take whatever momentum was left to start the second half.

The Blue Knights wasted no time finding the end zone to open the third quarter, needing just five plays to score, and West was able to stay a step ahead of the Knights in the fourth quarter to hang on for a 20-13 win in a Division II non-conference game.

Kingston Green ran for two touchdowns in the second half and Rayvon Nelson had a key interception in the fourth quarter to set up what proved to be the game-winning score. The West defense also stopped Kingswood twice inside the Blue Knights' 10-yard line in the first half to preserve a 6-0 lead at the break.

"It’s the exact kind of game that we needed," West coach Andrew Provencher said. "A close, gritty game, going down to the wire. We wanted to see our true colors a little bit and super proud of the way they responded in high-pressure situations. I thought our execution was much better (Friday) than it had been in big games. Really proud of the guys putting it all together."

Jarome Henert led the offense with 73 yards rushing on 10 carries was also catching two passes for 20 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown reception from Gio Doria on the game's opening drive. That gave the Blue Knights (5-2) a 6-0 lead, and while West's offense stalled the rest of the half, the defense stepped up, holding Kingswood (4-3) to just 51 yards in the first half.

"I thought we did a good job doing what we could to contain them," Provencher said. "They have a good high-powered offense that can score points, so I was happy with the way we were able to keep them at bay for most of the game."

The Knights were able to get their passing game going in the second half, as Nolan Chominski finished the night 11 of 16 for 134 yards, 107 of which came after halftime. Brendan McPhee had six catches for 86 yards and two touchdown receptions.

But Kingswood managed just 33 yards on the ground, with West holding Serafin Agramonte to 16 yards on 11 carries, all in the first half.

That included the final play of the half, where the Blue Knights stopped Agramonte for a loss of 6 yards on third-and-goal from the West 4. The half ended before Kingswood could get another play off.

The Blue Knights then opened the second half with a five-play, 59-yard drive that featured a 35-yard run by Henert and ended with an 11-yard touchdown run by Green. The conversion was good and West led 14-0.

"Our goal was to come out in the second half and get momentum," Henert said. "We didn’t have enough points on the board, so we tried to get more, and that’s what we did. We drove down the field and scored."

Kingswood got on the board on its next possession, scoring on a 40-yard pass from Chominski to McPhee, but a pass attempt on the conversion fell incomplete to keep an eight-point game.

West was forced to punt on its next drive, but Doria's punt put the ball on Kingswood's 17-yard line. A hold on the Knights on first down pushed them back, and on the next play, Nelson, who had missed three games with an injury, made a diving interception of a pass by Chominski to give the Blue Knights the ball on Kingswood's 19.

Four plays later, on fourth-and-1, Green rumbled in from 10 yards out to put West up 20-6 with 8:58 to play.

"It was a fantastic feeling seeing Rayvon in his first game back," Henert said. "It was great to see. It reflected on the scoreboard, so it was an amazing feeling for everyone."

Chominski and McPhee connected again on Kingswood's next possession, this time from 9 yards out, and the extra point made it a seven-point game with 4:13 left.

But the Knights wouldn't see the ball again, as West was able to keep possession and run out the clock.

"That was our plan going in," Provencher said. "We were calling it a grind game. We wanted to just grind them out and we ran up the gut a lot. Big guy on big guy, and we just asked our guys to get 10 yards and keep on driving. I thought they did a good job executing that."