MHS Powers Past Chapel Hill, 47-13

By JOHN KUYKENDALL
The Manchester High Blue Devils rolled to a 47-13 victory over the visiting Chapel Hill Panthers last Friday night at Memorial Stadium.
It didn’t take long for the Blue Devils to score in the game. The defense forced a Panther punt and took over the football on their own 1-yard line. Senior quarterback Dre Mcghee gave the Blue Devils an early lead using his speed to out run the Panther defense and capped a 99-yard drive with an 86-yard touchdown. Manchester couldn’t convert on the extra point attempt, but with just over six minutes left to play in the first quarter, had taken a 6-0 lead.
The remainder of the first quarter was a defensive battle but the Blue Devil special team play gave Manchester an opportunity to increase the lead in the second quarter.
After forcing a Chapel Hill punt, the Blue Devils took over the football at thier own 36-yard line. Ja’Cori Anthony slipped through the line of scrimmage and raced all the way to the Chapel Hill 2-yard line to set up the second score of the night for Manchester. The drive was capped with a 2-yard touchdown run by Darrius Favors with about nine minutes left to play in the first half. The extra point attempt failed, but the Blue Devils had increased the lead to 12-0.
The Blue Devils had an opportunity to increase the lead when Codofee Revell picked off a Panther pass and returned it to the Chapel Hill 19-yard line. However, the Blue Devils faced a fourth and inches play at the Panther 11-yard line and the Chapel Hill defense held.
The Manchester defense returned the favor and forced the Panthers to punt and the Blue Devils were backed up to their own 4-yard line. Mcghee broke loose on the first snap and raced 96-yards to score. The Blue Devils converted on a two-point attempt and held onto a solid 20-0 lead with just over a minute left to play in the first half.
The half came to a close with that score standing.
It was the third quarter that proved to put the game out of reach for the Panthers.
The Blue Devils received the football to begin the second half of play and a good return set up another scoring drive that started at the Manchester 31-yard line. The Blue Devils drove down th field to score with about seven minutes left to play in the quarter with an 8-yard run to score. Brady Daniel added the point after and the Blue Devils had increased the lead to 27-0.
The Blue Devils would hit pay dirt again after forcing another Panther punt. This time, the Blue Devils took over the football at their own 10-yard line. On first down, the football was put in the hands of Favors and he was off and running to score on a 90-yard run. Daniel was true on his extra point attempt and Manchester had a commanding 34-0 lead with five minutes left to play in the third quarter.
The Blue Devils added another touchdown in the third and one in the fourth and the Panthers scored two late touchdowns and the game ended with the Blue Devils takeing a 47-13 lead.
Sorry, no individual statistics were available.
This Friday night, Sept. 26, the Blue Devils will travel to Trion to play the Bulldogs in a region game. Both teams enter the contest with a 2-3 record. Both teams have a 400% winning percentage with Manchester 2-0 at home and 0-3 on the road and the Bulldogs are 1-1 at home and 1-2 on the road.
The Bulldogs are coming off a 32-24 loss to LaFayette.
Not only are the records of the teams similar, but so are the statistics for each team. The Blue Devils have averaged scoring 21.4 points per game this season and the Bulldogs are averaging putting 20.4 points on the scoreboard.
The Trion defense has allowed opponents to score an average of 24.6 points per game and the Blue Devil defense has allowed an average of 26.4 points per game.
This is expected to be another physical and had-fought battle for both teams. A win would give one of the teams a opportunity to stay in the hunt for the state playoffs.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.