The Manhattan Indians rushed for five touchdowns and took advantage of two Junction City Blue Jay fumbles to score twice enroute to a 42-12 football win at Bishop Stadium in Manhattan.
The game was close in the first half with the Indians on top 14-12 but after going up 21-12 they took advantage of two Junction City fumbles. One led to a 26-yard touchdown run by quarterback Talon Claussen with 1:55 remaining in the second quarter,and the second came when the Indians picked up a Blue Jay fumble and returned it for their fifth touchdown of the first half in the final minute of the second quarter.
After leading 35-12 at halftime, the Indians defense kept the Blue Jay offense at bay for most of the second half enroute to the victory. Junction City coach Randall Zimmerman said Manhattan doesn’t make mistakes, they’re an experienced team and their offensive line was dominant. “We had some going things going in the first half. We were able to match them score for score and getting it figured out defensively, but then we turned the ball over twice offensively. We’re such a young team, we’re so inexperienced it was just tough to come back from that.”
The Blue Jays fell to 3-3 on the season while Manhattan improved to 5-1.