Win over Blue Valley Northwest caps perfect regular season for Football

Jacob Clanton, Sports Editor

Though a two-platoon system is often seen in the professional and collegiate levels of football, rarely is a true system seen in the high school level. However, at Manhattan High, that is not the case.

The Indians are one of the few high school teams with entirely different offenses and defenses. They have no regular two-way players. As a result, the players stay fresher than a team with two-way players. This late stamina has proved wondrous for MHS this season.

“That’s been the theme the whole year,” head coach Joe Schartz said. “We’ve been able to two-platoon and keep kids fresh and a lot of teams have been having to play kids both ways, and it’s really helped us this year.”

Manhattan (8-0) capitalized its freshness by scoring six touchdowns in the second and third quarters to beat Blue Valley Northwest (2-6) 45-21. With the win, Manhattan finished the regular season undefeated and secured the number two seed in the west.   

“Coming in, for the seniors, [going undefeated] was kind of a pretty big goal of ours,” senior quarterback Ian Trapp said. “It’s kind of the first goal on a list of a lot that we wanted to accomplish. It just feels good to come to the end of the regular season with [an undefeated record].”

Though MHS would win the game, a slow start nearly upended the perfection. After forcing a punt from BVNW on its first drive, Manhattan managed to gain a few yards before an uncharacteristic fumble from Trapp gave the Huskies the ball back. BVNW would take advantage, going 49 yards in five plays to score a touchdown, taking a 7-0 lead early.

“When it comes down to it,” Trapp said, “you can’t really let it affect you because you’re going to have to go out there and score again anyway. I kind of tried to have a short memory and wipe it pretty quick.”

The Indians tried to respond, driving nearly 50 yards before being stuffed on fourth down. They ran into some trouble the play before though, as senior center Wes Conrow went down, forcing him to come out of the game.

“[As I was blocking], whenever Tariq [Gerald, senior] got tackled,” Conrow said, “one of the guy’s legs like swung out and kind of whipped me in the leg and and the whole pile came down [on my leg].”

Conrow would later return to the game after missing one MHS drive.

Manhattan would be successful on its next attempt to score, as Trapp ran the ball in for a touchdown, tying the game up at 7.

Trapp would finish the game with 283 yards and three touchdowns on 28 attempts rushing, passing the 1000-yard mark on the season.

“I mean, it feels good,” Trapp said, “but you got to credit the O-line because, especially after watching the film, they just killed people. They opened up huge holes, [and] the field was wide open the whole game. [However], I don’t really want to focus on stats, all that really matters is winning.”

That touchdown would open the flood gates for Manhattan, as it would score two more touchdowns before halftime. Senior Iverson Robb would run one in, and Trapp would complete a 32-yard pass to senior wide receiver Jonathon Taylor for the other score. Robb would run for 63 yards in the game, though that would be Taylor’s only catch.

At halftime, Manhattan had a 21-14 lead, allowing a Blue Valley NW touchdown with :19.5 left in the half.

“Its disappointing to give up the touchdown right before half,” Schartz said. “[It’s] something that can’t happen, not if we’re going to continue to advance in the playoffs.”

MHS came out of the gate firing, scoring 14 points in 10 seconds. First score came off of Trapp’s feet, as he put the final touches on the first drive of the second half. The next touchdown came on the ensuing kickoff, as the Indian kickoff team forced a BVNW fumble that junior kicker Tyreese Gerald recovered and ran back 25 yards for a touchdown.

Manhattan would score one more touchdown in the third quarter, pushing the score to 42-14. It would add a field goal from senior Andrew Scott midway through the fourth to make it 45-14. The field goal was the first attempted by MHS all season.

“[Scott’s] a really good kicker, and he’s done some pretty crazy things that a lot of people just don’t know about,” Trapp said. “They just see the Junction City game last year, and that’s all they know. But it’s a new season, and for him to be able to build some confidence going into the playoffs, and hit a nice field goal [is good].”

Blue Valley would tack on one more touchdown with 1:32 left in the game, but it was not enough to overcome Manhattan’s second and third quarter onslaught, as the Indians would win the game.

Next week, Manhattan hosts Wichita Southeast (1-7) in a meeting of Schartz brothers to open the playoffs. Wichita Southeast is coached by Schartz’s brother, John Schartz, and have only beaten Wichita North (0-8).

As it will be the playoffs, any game could be the last for this year’s seniors. However, Joe Schartz’s advice to the team is to relax and enjoy.

“I told the kids to take a deep breath and enjoy it,” Joe Schartz said. “One thing that we don’t want to do going forward is hold on to tightly, we need to enjoy this, we need to enjoy this time together, and these kids have worked hard and created a bond that they’re going to remember the rest of their lives. [The] main thing is now let’s keep it going and for them to enjoy the experience.”