Jersey Mike’s Football Team of the Week: Manchester

Every week this fall, Jersey Mike’s and Shore Sports Network will be selecting a Team of the Week based on its performance over the past weekend.

The Jersey Mike’s Team of the Week for Week 4 is Manchester, which scored a 27-16 victory over Barnegat to hand the Bengals their first loss and improve to 3-1 for the first time since 2003. Shore Sports Network was at practice Tuesday to present the Hawks and head coach Brian Wilkinson with a special game ball, and commemorative mini helmet courtesy of Tackle Depression and a $500 Jersey Mike’s gift card.

The Hawks have been playing well under first-year head coach Brian Wilkinson, a Shore Conference veteran who previously led Toms River South and Pinelands and was Manchester’s defensive coordinator before taking over as head coach this season. The Hawks upset Lacey in Week 1 to catch everyone’s eye and entered Week 4 looking to make another statement against a 3-0 Barnegat squad.

Things didn’t work out early for Manchester as Barnegat used great field position on a pair of first-half drives to take a 10-0 lead midway through the second quarter. The Hawks got untracked with a 70-yard scoring drive led by junior quarterback Savon Myers, pulling to within three points on Myers’ 2-yard touchdown run. Shortly after, Myers found senior running back Josh Glenn for a 54-yard touchdown run to give Manchester a 14-10 halftime lead which it would not relinquish.

Myers added a 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to extend the Hawks’ lead to 21-10 and Evan Weiner added field goals of 19 and 33 yards for a 27-10 lead in the fourth quarter before Barnegat scored in the final minute.

Myers had a great game in completing 11 of 17 passes for 222 yards and one touchdown and rushing for 30 yards and two scores. Glenn caught three passes for 82 yards and a touchdown, D’Maari Brown caught four passes for 77 yards and Gavin Clark hauled in three passes for 58 yards.

Manchester’s defense was superb in allowing just 176 yards of offense and forcing two turnovers. Sean Snead had an interception and Chris Grille recovered a fumble.

Manchester has had just five winning seasons in 44 years so the fact that the Hawks are 3-1 more than halfway through the regular season is no small feat. They will try to keep it going this Saturday when they host a Keansburg team that is also off to a 3-1 start.

Archive

Week 3 - Keansburg

Week 2 – Colts Neck

Week 1 - Toms River South

Managing editor Bob Badders can be reached at bob.badders@townsquaremedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Bob_Badders. Like Shore Sports Network on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel for all the latest video highlights.