Manti finishes pre-season with loss on the road against Emery, 13-9
Bob Bahlmann
Staff writer
9-15-2016
CASTLE DALE—Manti wrapped up its pre-season football schedule last Friday Sept. 9 with a road trip to Emery High School.
The Templars started the game with a bang when Tanner Rasmussen intercepted an Emery pass on the first drive of the game, but Manti came up short in the end, loosing a hard-fought battle, 13-9.
Although Emery was running the ball well and gained yardage on second effort, it was Manti that scored first.
After a holding penalty backed Manti up to its own 10-yard line, quarterback Marshall Dotson dropped back to pass. Under pressure from the Spartan defense, he was still able to find Mac Stevens open in a seam.
Stevens pulled in the one-handed catch and was off to the races down the right sideline for a 90-yard touchdown. On only their fifth play of the game, the Templars led, 7-0.
Second-quarter action saw Manti playing better defense against the run. The Templars held Emery, forcing a punt attempt. The snap was high and rolled out of the end zone for a touchback, giving Manti a 9-0 lead at the half.
Emery held the Templars scoreless in the second half, while finding the end zone twice, to take back the lead and win the game by four points.
Lance Fowles led the Templar running attack with 34 yards, Stevens had 26 and Nate Lee ran for eight.
Dotson completed five of 13 passes for 116 yards. Rasmussen caught three for 16 yards; Stevens had two receptions for 100 yards.
Rasmussen led the defense with 14 tackles, Michael Alder had nine and Dotson added eight.
The loss wraps up a tough pre-season for the Templars, who will open league play this Friday when they host Canyon View. The Falcons have also had a tough pre-season and have lost four in a row to good teams. They lost 41-14 to Beaver, 20-16 to Hurricane, 28-8 to Cedar and most recently, 42-28 to Dixie.
