MANNFORD — Mannford is 3–0, and the Pirates earned their third win the old-fashioned way: with a ground game that never blinked and a defense that kept answering the bell. Against Sequoyah (Claremore), Mannford rushed for 433 yards and fi ve touchdowns in a 33–22 win that was steady from whistle to whistle.
Junior J.J. Hindsman set the tone between the tackles, piling up 160 yards and two scores on patient, read-it-and-hit-it runs. Senior Brayden Rodriguez provided the jolt, breaking free for a 79-yard sprint on his way to 151 yards and two touchdowns. Sophomore Luke Naylor picked his spots and punished arm tackles, fi nishing with 121 yards at 13.4 per carry and a touchdown. On a night when the Pirates completed one pass, they didn’t need another.
The defense matched the mood. Mannford recorded 93 total tackles and took the ball away three times, with interceptions from Naylor, sophomore Kayden Leslie and senior Max Moore, who added a 12-yard return. Moore was a beast — a team-high 15 tackles, a pass defended, and the kicko duties - while Rodriguez stacked 13 tackles from the second level. Seniors Ricky Morgan (11) and Trey Scott (10) were sure hands in the alley, and the front produced six tackles for loss, with Cooper Boyer and Kendal Howard among those getting upfi eld.
Special teams nudged the fi eld position the Pirates wanted. Moore's fi ve kicko s limited Sequoyah's sparks, and sophomore Alex Guzman converted two PATs. It wasn't fl awless, but it was the kind of complementary work that lets a run-fi rst team keep calling its best play.
If there was a theme, it was clarity. The Pirate o ensive line moved people and made daylight, the backs ran through it — the defense swarmed to the football.
Sequoyah found answers often enough to make the night interesting, but each time the game leaned, Mannford leaned back harder — with a drive on the ground or a takeaway to reset the tempo.
Three games in and the numbers tell the story, but so does the way the Pirates go about it. Sometimes they throw it, sometimes they just run downhill — they tackle in groups, and they look comfortable good way to stack wins in September, and a good way to keep the town buzzing about what might be coming in October.