MANNFORD — On a Friday night made for homecoming royalty and high school memories, the Mannford Pirate football team put icing on the entire cake, blowing out the McLoud Redskins 41-13, preserving their perfect 4-0 record. They opened district play with a performance that didn’t so much advance as roll downhill — 56 snaps, 468 total yards, and the kind of balance that makes opposing defensive coordinators question their career choices.
“Friday was a great start to district play,” said Pirate Head Coach Kenny Gooch. “Our focus has been on getting better each week. I think our guys are bought into doing just that. We still have several things that we need to get cleaned up as we move deeper into our schedule. We ran the ball well Friday on offense and hit some big plays through the passing game as well. Very pleased offensively Friday.”
Sophomore Luke Naylor needed only seven carries to write a novella — 201 rushing yards and two touchdowns, including a 70-yard jailbreak that made pursuit angles obsolete.
He had company. Pirates Ryder Tidwell churned out 69 yards, Brayden Rodriguez added 57, J.J. Hindsman chipped in 33 and a score, and quarterback Max Moore kept one for six.
By the time the moths had found the stadium lights, Mannford had stacked 392 rushing yards on 41 attempts — 9.6 per carry and a whole lot of grass stains for the Redskins.
On the rare occasions when the Pirates chose to throw, they were ridiculously efficient. Moore was perfect — 4-for-4 for 76 yards and two touchdowns — flipping a 28-yard strike to Brayden Genzer and a red-zone dart to Hagen Anderson who had three grabs for 48 yards — the audacity. Four completions, two scores: it wasn’t carpet bombing, so much as it was delivering laserguided munitions, keeping secondaries wary of the tailbacks they never met.
Defense matched the tone with a night of gridlock and bad intentions. Mannford piled up 93 total tackles, seven tackles for loss, 11 quarterback hurries, and a sack from Rodriguez.
Moore didn’t stop at perfect passing; he led the defense with 13 tackles of his own and snagged the night’s lone interception.
The Pirates also pounced on three fumbles thanks to Hindsman, Tidwell, and Lyndon Hamilton. Tidwell added a blocked punt just because it was homecoming.
In the second half, the tone shifted from sturdy to smothering, just the way the boss wanted.
“Defensively I thought we improved as a unit Friday. After halftime, I think we found out what our defense is capable of. We put a team away that has some very talented athletes,” said Gooch.
Mannford’s special teams kept the field tilted. Alex Guzman banged through 5 of 6 PATs and handled kickoffs; Trey Scott flipped momentum with two returns for 50 yards, and Rodriguez chipped a 25-yard runback. Even the lone punt was on brand — 40 whopping yards from Moore that sat down inside the Redskins 20 like a drunk circus bear.
McLoud had bright spots — quarterback Phoenix Lopez flashed as a dual threat with 183 total yards (104 rushing, 79 passing), and Leroy Thomas ground out 91 and a score — but three lost fumbles and too many short fields left the visitors stuck in the Pirate’s wake. Mannford played like a team with somewhere to be come winter and very little interest in small talk.
So the Pirates are 4–0, the district opener is in their pocket, and the town’s Saturday coffee tastes a little sweeter.
Gooch’s gaze stayed forward.
“We feel good right now being 4-0 and starting off district play well. But, we also know that our schedule continues to get tougher and our work is still in front of us. The goal this week is to go 1-0 again.”