Manvel opens season on the winning path

September 1, 2010

MANVEL — The Manvel Mavericks struggled last year to get a 28-26 win over C.E. King in their season opener, but the 2010 squad didn't allow the game to be that close as the Mavs blitz Willowridge 43-19.

Head coach Kirk Martin is hoping this year will break the trend of early season losses. The Mavs are picked to finish fourth in District 24-4A with Friendswood, Dawson, and Ball High picked ahead of them. But that leaves a hungry La Marque team, who has not had a winning record nor advanced to the playoffs the last two years, as a force that will be in the playoff hunt.

Manvel scored early in the first quarter against Willowridge on an 8-yard run by Trevion Alexander. The extra point by Josh Martinez was good for a 7-0 lead with 10:14 left in the opening period.

It took Willowridge less than a minute to answer as Chris Heartfield fired a 51-yard missle to Darrin  Reddick for a touchdown to knot up the game at 7-7.

Manvel reclaimed the lead when quarterback Dexter Foreman tossed a 30-yard scoring pass to Adrian Gonzalez giving the Mavs a 14-7 advantage.

But Willowridge wasn't going to go away as Davion Wolford caught a pass covering 19 yards from Heartfield. The two-point conversion was no good leaving Manvel ahead 14-13 with 10:10 left in the second quarter.

That's as close as Willowridge would get as the Mavs scored 29 unanswered points for a 43-13 lead with 3:30 remaining in the third quarter.

Richard Rose scored on a 19-yard run. Alexander added a second touchdown covering 13 yards. Koree Ames scored on a 49-yard punt return and the defense picked up a safety. Rose scored his second TD to close out the scoring.

Willowridge scored at the midway point of the fourth quarter to make the finals score 43-19.

Manvel finished wiht 313 total yards while Willowridge was able to get only 183 with 51 of those yards on one play.

Manvel used a double quarterback scheme as Foreman finished the game hitting 5-of-8 for 80 yards while Travaughn Colwell was 7-for-11 for 55 yards.

Alexander had 10 carries for 49 yards and two scores while Rose had nine carries for 58 yards and two TDs.

Adrian Gonzalez had three catches for 48 yards and one score.

Manvel will travel to face Fort Bend Austin on Friday, September 3 at 7:00 p.m.

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