Story by MYFL President Lawrence Phillips
After a long delay the three SMTYFA Manchester Red Raiders teams finally got to play for the SMTYFA titles on Saturday at Bobby Ray Elementary in McMinnville.
The 2019 season began with Manchester and nine other SMTYFA member communities Columbia, Liberty, Shelbyville, Franklin County, Giles County, Fayetteville, Marshall Co and Warren County. Manchester took the measure of all but one of those.
The Division 1 (5-6-7 year olds) went not only undefeated but did not allow a single point in the Jamboree, regular season, Playoffs or Super Bowl, wrapping up the season with 12 “Big” wins, average margin of victory 38 points, and the SMTYFA Championship.
In the Super Bowl win on Saturday Karson Wimley and Avery Hodges scored twice each. Kayleb Morris and Hayes Shemwell added a touchdown each. Macc Chappin and Morris added two extra points each as the Manchester Red Raiders defeated the Franklin County Rebels.
Manchester 40 Franklin County 0
The Division 1 Red Raiders will be guests on the Coffee Coaches Show on Saturday, November 30th. The Coffee Coaches Show is broadcast live each Saturday from the showroom of Al White Ford/Lincoln. The Coffee Coaches Show is heard exclusively on Thunder Radio.
The Division 2 (8-9 year olds) went into the Super Bowl on Saturday with a 10-1 record including Jamboree and Playoff wins with the lone loss being to Shelbyville.
Levi Scott lead the team with two touchdowns and an extra point. However the championship slipped from the Raiders hands as the Shelbyville Golden Eagles broke two big runs late in the game to take the victory.
Manchester 13 Shelbyville 24
The undefeated Division 3 (10-12 year olds) took their 11-0 record including Jamboree and Playoff wins into the Super Bowl against the one loss Shelbyville Golden Eagles, that loss coming at the hands of the Raiders back in week two of the season. Shelbyville took the 21-14 loss hard and followed it up by obliterating every team they faced by an average of 56 points with no further points allowed. Meanwhile, the Raiders in similar fashion, averaging a scoring margin of 43 points per game only allowed an additional 7 points to Fayetteville.
Manchester 11-0 and Shelbyville 10-1 both having allowed only 21 points for the season rematched in the Championship game on Saturday. Manchester began the scoring with a big run by Caiden Martin which set up goal to go. Kaysen Lowery then passed to Tyler Martin for the score. The extra point was unsuccessful. Raiders lead 6-0. Shelbyville scored on a breakaway by Robert Lentz. The extra point was no good. Manchester 6 Shelbyville 6. Lentz scored again and again the extra point was stopped by the Raiders. Shelbyville 12 Manchester 6. The Raiders Caiden Martin punched in another score right before the end of the first half to make it a 12-12 tie at halftime. The Raiders kicked off to start the second half and the kick was fielded by Lentz who retuned the ball 65 yards for the go ahead score. The extra point failed. Eagles 18 Manchester 12. The defenses for both sides stiffened for the rest of the game which ended late in the 4th with another Caiden Martin touchdown. Raiders 18 Eagles 18. The Eagles then mounted a drive that appeared as though they would steal the game from the Raiders by punching in the late score but the Raiders defense rose to the occasion and caused a fumble which Raiders Jett Trussler recovered. The following series was unsuccessful and the Raiders had to give the Eagles one more chance on offense. Again the Raiders defense saved the day by stopping the Eagles short as time expired and they headed into Overtime tied at 18-18. Shelbyville took the ball on the 10 yard line to start overtime. The Raiders received an offsides penalty to move the ball to the 5 and Shelbyville put the ball in the hands of their big scorer Lentz. The Raiders swarmed Lentz on next three plays driving the Eagles backwards. On the fourth down play the Raiders brought out an all out blitz and stopped the Eagles in their tracks. With the unsuccessful attempt it was now the Raiders chance to pull out the win. Raiders quarterback Lowery tossed the ball over his shoulder to Caiden Martin who would not be denied breaking through the Shelbyville defense and into the end zone for the win.
Manchester 24 Shelbyville 18
The Division 3 Red Raiders will be guests on the Coffee Coaches Show on Saturday, November 23rd. The Coffee Coaches Show is broadcast live each Saturday from the showroom of Al White Ford/Lincoln. The Coffee Coaches Show is heard exclusively on Thunder Radio.
MYFL would like to give a big Thanks to Thunder Radio for allowing us the use of this medium and also for the radio appearances on the Coffee Coaches show to share our stories with it’s followers.
The coaches, players and parents of the MYFL teams of the SMTYFA and TCYFL associations really appreciate Thunder’s acknowledgement of their contributions to youth football and cheerleading.
