Manchester Falls As Central Rallies For Last-Minute Victory

The game wasn’t even 12 minutes old, and Manchester was rolling. Joe Johnson was ripping through the Central Regional defense easily, and senior quarterback Tim Rogers had thrown for two touchdowns, recovered an onsides kick and its own fumble of a punt.

It seemed like it was going to be the Hawks’ night.

Central running back Kalyph Hardy had other ideas. The Golden Eagles’ senior running back, who is the leading rusher in the state, ran for 219 yards and three touchdowns, and intercepted Rogers to end the game as Central beat the Hawks 21-20 in a Shore Conference Class B South matchup in Bayville on Friday night.

Coming into the game, there was much discussion of the talents of Hardy and Johnson, who both had more than 1,000 yards rushing coming into the game. And both demonstrated those talents. Johnson, who finished with 214 yards rushing, broke through the Central defense easily early on to help set up both of Manchester’s first two touchdowns.

But just as if he flipped a lightswitch, Hardy took a toss from cousin Javon, Central’s quarterback, swept left, and sprinted for a 38-yard touchdown that made it 20-7 at halftime. He broke another long touchdown run with 6:25 left in the game, and capped it off with a crushing 8-yard score with 32 seconds left on a drive where he carried every down except one.

“We know who Kalyph Hardy is, and he’s who he is for a reason,” Manchester head coach Gerry O’Donnell said. “These were two very good teams, and two very good running backs. Their running back just made one more play.”

Manchester (2-3, 1-3 in Class B South) also hurt itself with penalties that negated two touchdowns, including a 65-yard punt return by Johnson that would have put the Hawks up at least 26-0. The Hawks are without placekicker Tom Sokol, who is injured, and they were forced to resort to two-point conversion attempts on Saturday, after their first point-after attempt failed. They converted one of the two.

“If we had converted both of those, it would have made the difference,” O’Donnell said.

As easy as it would be to attribute the victory to Hardy’s running alone, the Central defensive effort was just as important. The Golden Eagles contained both Johnson and Rogers, closing down the gaping holes that both had exploited initially and tightening up the passing defense as well. Rogers completed 8 of 15 passes for 140 yards and one interception.

Central also eliminated the mistakes it had been making early in the game. After Rogers hit Damiun Moore for a 10-yard touchdown with 3:36 left in the first quarter, the Hawks perfectly executed an onsides kick, with Anthony Cook covering the ball at the Central 48 to put Manchester on offense again. A Johnson run moved the ball to the 8-yard line, and Rogers converted on fourth-and-goal, hitting Barrington Rose for the score.

Another Rogers-to-Rose connection resulted in a 30-yard touchdown. Johnson’s two-point conversion run was successful, making it 20-0 with 6:23 left before the half.

That was enough to get Central going, and the Golden Eagles’ defense shut the Hawks down from there.

Manchester hosts Jackson Liberty next Friday, with the hopes of rebounding from a heartbreaking loss. With Johnson and Rogers, anything is possible.