Playoff football, a time when games are won and lost at a moment’s notice. When regular-season results and projections mean nothing.
Westminster and Manchester Valley each had one objective if they wanted to earn a trip to Linganore for the Class 3A West Region second round: win.
“There were two great teams on that field tonight,” Manchester Valley coach Bernie Koontz said. “It always comes down to who wants it more.”
Koontz knows how hard it is to win a road playoff game, but the veteran coach had a plan: a heavy dose of running back duo Kingston Canby and Isaiah Ferebee. With both backs running hard, the Mavericks controlled the game from the start, dominating time of possession and the battle in the trenches.
Rushing touchdowns from both led the way as the Mavericks defeated the Owls, 23-15, on Friday night in their first-round playoff game.
“It was a great team win,” Koontz said. “A defining moment for our program.”
Even though Westminster went unbeaten through the county en route to the league title, Manchester Valley gave it one of its toughest tests, falling 19-7 on Sept. 29.
Manchester Valley’s plans for Friday became very clear on the opening drive — run the ball and keep control.
The Mavericks deployed Canby, Ferebee and the offensive line to set the tone for the night. The Mavericks’ opening 12-play drive took up the majority of the first quarter, ending with the first of three field goals by Braden Fritz. A touchdown might not have been scored, but a message was surely sent.
“We wanted to let them know that we’re coming,” Ferebee said. “We let them know early that we weren’t scared of them and we weren’t ready to go home without the ‘W’.”
After another long drive, Ferebee finally saw the end zone, capping off a 10-play drive with a touchdown run on fourth down. With Canby later adding a rushing score of his own, Manchester Valley found itself up double-digits at the half in front of a stunned Westminster crowd.
“It took a lot of practice during the week and hard work,” Mavericks center Ethan Ebberts said. “We just had to do our jobs, work hard and trust each other.”
As the Mavericks controlled the game with long, drawn-out and downright physical drives, the Owls found themselves looking for answers early thanks to some quick three-and-outs they never truly recovered from.
While quarterback Kyrece Walker was able to find Brayden Troupe and Rakim Warfield for touchdowns, opportunities for the offense were scarce overall.
Running the ball inside proved to be ineffective thanks to the stingy and physical Mavericks defensive line. Westminster was 0-for-8 on third down. There were several batted balls at the line of scrimmage, a dropped touchdown pass and two turnovers that killed drives as the Owls found themselves struggling to climb back into the game.
“We had an idea that we could play with them,” Koontz said. “The kids just bought in and executed exactly how we asked them to on both sides.”
The Manchester Valley offensive line was the most dominant unit of the game, doing something many teams weren’t able to do to Westminster this season — throw the first punch, look the Owls in the eye and challenge them to do something about it.
Behind his lineman, Koontz encouraged his players to keep their foot on the gas as they get ready for Linganore next week. Everyone was locked in, even as they celebrated with each other and the student section that made the trip to Ruby Field.
Now with the Carroll County champs handled, the Mavericks’ confidence is sky-high. They know if a trip to the state tournament is earned, it’ll be because of the team’s steadfast belief in each other and the emergence of the talented backfield tandem ready to cement themselves as two of the most dangerous weapons in the playoffs.
“We love each other like we’re blood brothers,” Canby said. “Everything we do, we do with and for each other and that’s why we’ll go far.”
