The Manhattan High Varsity football team (1-1) fell 27-32 to the Topeka High Trojans (2-0) last Friday night. The game was back and forth and the Indians were unlucky to depart Hummer Sports Park with a loss. 

“It was obviously tough to lose that one because of how hard we worked for it,” senior running back B.J. Young said. “I thought we played well as a team but need to eliminate some mistakes. To bounce back after the loss we will need to get healthy and get ready for the next one. It’s obviously going to stick but last week is history, we can only go up from here.”

Young was exceptional for the Indians, putting up two rushing touchdowns for the second consecutive week and racking up a couple deep balls along the way. Young gives credit to his offensive line for the protection.

“It feels pretty good, but I [want to] give credit to my o-line because all of the work starts up front,” Young said. “We got to keep growing as a unit and once we get that down and get into a rhythm it’s going to be very hard to keep up with us.”

The Indians started the game out strong, putting up 14 points early thanks to junior quarterback Dayne Aschenbrenner’s two rushing touchdowns. They got answered by senior Ky Thomas, who had two touchdown runs. Thomas, a running back committed to the University of Minnesota, had himself a night with over 200 yards rushing and four touchdowns in the game. Young would then knock on a touchdown run before some controversy set in.

Right before the half, Thomas had a long touchdown run. But before he reached the end zone, he taunted Manhattan players following him from behind. It took about 10 or 15 minutes for the referee’s to set things straight before they deemed it a penalty and Topeka had to settle for a field goal.

From there, it was back and forth before Topeka would put up a touchdown late with a minute left. The Indians couldn’t catch up from there and ended the night with a loss to the Trojans.

Not only will the Indians return home this Friday for the home opener, nut they will also play for the annual homecoming game. Manhattan will look to light up the lights both on and off the field as they take on the Seaman Vikings.