PAC Game of the Year - 2002 | Manchester at Tusky Valley - The Rematch | Week 5 | September 20, 2002
This is the fourth in an ongoing series, highlighting the PAC Game of the Year in each season, from 1999 through 2023, which will lead up to the start of the 2024 high school football season. For a look back at prior summaries, click here for
1999,
2000 and
2001.
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A year removed from the 2001 classic between the Panthers and the Trojans at James R. France Stadium, there was no one who was going to look past the scheduled Week 5 meeting between the same two teams in Zoarville. And safe to say, the rematch lived up to the preseason hype.
Manchester again came into the game undefeated. Tested by Copley in Week 1, the Panthers eked out a 15-14 win to get the season started. They were barely tested the next three weeks, rolling to consecutive victories over Streetsboro, Westdale, (ON) and Tuslaw by a combined 137-0.
That wouldn't be the case in Week 5. Tusky Valley dropped the season opener to perhaps the best Canton South team of the last 30 years that did not have Poochie Snyder on the roster. But the Trojans' rebounded with romps over Indian Valley, Garaway and Fairless, to set up the PAC Game of the Year at Trojan Stadium. And this one lived up to the billing.
The defenses dominated. The Trojans mustered an early first quarter field goal, and Manchester responded three minutes later after the Trojans muffed a punt at their own 7 yard line. Justin McCraney rumbled in from the 7, but like the previous year, a missed extra point would be a big part of the story. Tusky Valley's Mason Weaver blocked the PAT, and the first quarter ended with the Panthers leading 6-3. So did the second. And the third.
The Panthers defense forced three turnovers - two fumbles and a pick, and the game remained a 3-point margin entering the fourth. After another Trojan miscue in the fourth, Manchester advanced deep into Tusky Valley territory, only to breathe life back into the Trojans by fumbling the ball back to the Trojans from inside the red zone. The ensuing drive crossed midfield, but Brody Jackson seemed to ice it with another pick with just over three minutes remaining. But the twists were far from over. The Trojans forced a punt, and somehow hit a 53-yard pass all the way down to the 5 yard line. But they could not finish the drive. Remember that missed PAT? It allowed Tusky Valley to kick a short field goal and tie the game 6-6, to force overtime.
The Panthers finished regulation with 42 rushes for 178 yards on the ground. Quarterback Ryan Swain was 0 of 6 through the air. Manchester lost the coin flip and the Trojans chose to go on defense first. Two rushes yielded a loss of a yard and Manchester faced 3rd and 11 from the 21 in OT.
What came next came deep from the Trickeration Bag of head coach Jim France. The 1981 Dolphins had Strock to Harris to Nathan in the famous Hook and Ladder play against the Chargers. Twenty years later, the Manchester Panthers drew up Swain to Calvert to Feesler. Perhaps Tusky Valley should have seen it coming. Manchester ran the same play a week before against Tuslaw. But they didn't. Josh Feesler crossed the goal line, and that stingy Panthers defense held.
"It's was a play we've used quite a bit in practice," quipped France, "but not one we've run a whole lot in real game situations." Perhaps he meant
with the game on the line, since it went for a TD the previous week as well. The final passing stats for Ryan Swain? 1 for 7, for nine yards, and a perfect view as a spectator for the most perfect of laterals. Sometimes, one is all you need. The Panthers won again, 13-6, and Tusky Valley would again finish the season with just one loss in conference.
The Postscript
Perhaps still reeling from the difficult loss in Week 5, the Trojans dropped a second nonconference game on the road a week later at St. Thomas Aquinas, a D5 team that finished just 3-7. The 7-3 (5-1) Tusky Valley record was not good enough for a playoff bid, even though they cruised through the rest of their PAC schedule.
What of Manchester? The defense was pretty good. How good? They didn't give up a point again until the postseason. Five straight shutouts earned them the number one seed in Region 13 and a home playoff opener. But then the unthinkable happened. They ran into a 5-5 Youngstown Ursuline team that snuck into the playoffs as the 8 seed. Those five losses? D1 St Eds, D1 Boardman, D1 Harding, eventual D3 State Champ Bishop Watterson and rock fight with Cardinal Mooney. Talk about a bad draw?
Ursuline ended the Manchester season with a 28-10 win and went on to the state semifinal before falling to Portsmouth West, who finished as state runner-up to the Kenton Wildcats.
The season ended much sooner than expected, but Manchester again proved it was the the team to beat in the PAC.
Here's the game story from the local Tusky Valley paper:
