The Manual football team started out strong and refused to cede any ground to the Ballard Bruins last night, claiming a decisive 13-0 victory and extending this season’s winning streak to four games.

After Manual’s Nick Kopp (9, 11) scored a field goal relatively early in the first quarter, the Crimsons and the Bruins entered an intense stalemate that lasted most of the game.

Both teams’ defensive lines were strong, and did well holding off the opposing offense.

This scoreless game would continue until well into the second quarter, when Kopp kicked another field goal, bringing the score to 6-0, Manual.

The Bruins kept their defense strong, though, and there were no more scores until the second half, when Manual’s John Riley (10, 12) ran 20 yards for a Crimson touchdown. It was the only touchdown of the game.

Riley said, “It felt great. I wanna thank my team also, they helped me out, it wasn’t just me, [it was a] team effort.”

Riley had a strong performance last night, he also ran multiple first downs throughout the game.

After the touchdown, Kopp successfully kicked an extra point, bringing the score to Manual 13, Ballard zero.

While the Bruins made many efforts to catch up after that point, the Crimsons’ defense successfully held them at bay for the rest of the game, with Keon Ferris (35, 11) blocking a potential touchdown pass from Ballard towards the end of the fourth quarter.

After the game, Manual’s head coach Scott Carmony said that he thought his team’s defense was important in securing victory last night.

“We’re always gonna be defense first,” he said. “That’s just what we do, and the way we coach, and that’s what we believe in.”

However, Carmony also said that, he believed that his team needed to work on cleaning up their offensive coordination.

“We were kind of bumbling and stumbling around out there, with a bunch of dumb penalties and missed assignments,” he said. “We’re just not there yet, but we’ll get there.”

Ballard’s coach Michael Copley said that he was very proud of his team after last night’s game.

“I thought we played well defensively. For what they do offensively and how big they are, for us to only give up one touchdown, and fight like we did, because we’re immensely undersized, I was proud of our guys,” he said. “But when it really comes down to it, they [Manual] made the plays when it counted, and that’s hats off to a good football team.”

The Crimsons will attempt to continue their winning streak when they face off against the Western High School Warriors at Western next Friday, September 23.