Manu Magic

QB drops MVP showing in first start

By Stefan Cooper
Editor
Blount Press Row

Thomas Manu broke physics Friday night.

How is something like the throw on the touchdown pass to JaColby Cooper even possible?

Scrambling to his right, with Alcoa’s Jamerius Abuhania chasing hard, how did Will Jones even see Hudson Jamerson, let alone make a throw like that?

We’ll get to those questions and more in just a second, but first those two Micah Jones touchdown runs.

A Jones 8-yard score with 37 seconds remaining put the Tornadoes ahead to stay in a 28-21 win over rival Maryville at Goddard Field. Jones went in at a trot over right guard, much as the junior running back had done on a 1-yard run to open the scoring for Alcoa earlier in the evening.

“Greatness” is how Jones described the blocking on the play.

The Tornadoes deployed a clever formation along the offensive line for the play. Only guard Ton’Reon Brazelton lined up to the right of center Colton Moore. Receiver Jaylen Penson stood a yard off the ball to Brazelton’s right. Guard Sam Garland and tackles Marlee Watts and Jacob Crow all lined up to Moore’s left.

It proved the perfect formation for the defense, and Moore & Company blocked it perfectly.

Jones could have run for both scores in a tuxedo.

“I saw the defense; they shifted from a three-man front to a four-man front, and I knew I had to help the guard,” Moore said.

“We practiced just moving them out of the way; get the hole open,” Brazelton said. “Make way for Micah to do his thing.”

“That last possession, I thought we were coming off the ball a little crisper,” Alcoa offensive line coach Brian Gossett said. “The biggest thing is we kept telling our guys, ‘Let’s make one more play; let’s make one more play.'”

Manu — the Great American Rivalry Series game MVP after a 16-for-20 night passing for 185 yards and two scores, adding 83 yards on the ground — delivered a beautifully thrown ball to a leaping Jamir Dean for 25 yards for one of the other two Alcoa scores. The toss to Cooper for the other was a real magic trick of a throw.

“I’m so happy right now,” Manu said. “Ever since last year’s state championship game, this is what I dreamed of. I couldn’t wait.”

Generally, a right-handed quarterback rolling to his left and throwing deep downfield the other way is just asking for an interception. Generally.

Manu got plenty on the throw, though. There was no drift. The touch and placement on the aerial — and the why — was shocking.

Abuhania looked Manu’s intended target, at least initially. Maryville had perfect coverage on the play, so — while scrambling! — Manu elected for Cooper, crossing underneath. Five yards underneath.

“JaColby’s a ballplayer,” Manu said. “I know what he can do. I saw that safety back there. I tried to throw it a little flatter and see if (Cooper) could make a play on it, and he did just that.”

The 34-yard toss pulled the Tornadoes even at 14-all at the half. It’s the way Manu carries himself at all times, on the field and off, that fuels such showings, Alcoa coach Brian Nix said.

“If you live your life the way he lives his, you’re going to be able to do those things,” he said. “High character shows. When you’ve got a high GPA, when you do right in the classroom, when you do right when you leave here, all that stuff, it matters.”

Friday was always going to be a shootout between two talented young quarterbacks, and Jones sure held up his end.

Maryville, which got a 6-yard rushing score from Ty Tumberlin and touchdown passes from Jones to Colton Foust (39 yards) and Cohen Babelay (25) to account for its points, marched impressively 80 yards on the game’s opening drive for an early 7-0 lead. The memorable play on the drive, a Jones fastball to Jamerson covering 30 yards to pick up the key first down, left you numb.

Abuhania pressured Jones from his pocket on the play, forcing the Rebel junior into a scramble toward the Maryville sideline. Uncorking a missile, Jones hit Jamerson in the hands, chest high, on one of the best throws you’ll see from a high school quarterback all season. Maybe ever.

Jamerson gets a catch-of-the-year nomination just for making the grab.

A game with so many fireworks deserved a big ending, and Alcoa cornerbacks Demauri Dubose and Condis Cherry made sure it got one.

Following the Micah Jones score, Will Jones quickly marched the Rebels back downfield and into scoring position at the Tornado 21 with 6.6 seconds left. There, Dubose and Cherry knocked the ball clear of Maryville receivers in the end zone on the final two plays to ignite the Tornado celebration.