It was a joyous homecoming game for the large crowd in attendance on Friday night as the Manassas Tigers defeated the Hillcrest Vikings 40-8.

The Tigers jumped on Hillcrest early. They took their opening possession and marched right down the field. The drive ended with a 5 yard run for a touchdown by Antonio Parker. The extra point by Josh Sills made it 7-0 Manassas and they never looked back.

In making a statement early, the Tigers proved they came ready to play. The first drive was the beginning of a night that ended with over 400 yards of offense. The defense turned in another very solid performance. The Manassas Tigers held Hillcrest to 157 yards of offense and only 4 first downs.

The offense was lead by solid play up front from the offensive line. They had to overcome the loss of Montrail Brown in the first half. But the line never stopped working hard and no one benefited from it more than Omar Williams. He rushed for 225 yards on only 13 carries and scored on a 49 yard run in the 2^nd quarter. For the second game in a row both Julius Parson and Dexter Alexander caught touchdown passes in the 2^nd half from Will Redmond. The sophomore quarterback had another solid night going 6 of 11 for 88 yards and running for 58 yards and a touchdown.

As the game moved into the 4^th quarter, the Tigers saw a familiar face line up at quarterback. Terrance Oliver, the QB from last year’s squad, moved from his wide receiver spot to play under center. T.O. capped off the scoring for the night with a 3 yard run.

The Tigers next test will be this Friday night, October 2. Manassas will travel to St. Benedict’s in Cordova for a 7:00 game. We would love to see a bunch of folks from Hope Church come out and support the Tigers as they continue their march towards the postseason.

Sept 18 - Manassas vs. Trezevant (Final Score 28-20). In a game that the Manassas Tigers may look back on as the turning point in their season, the Tigers came storming back in the 2^nd half to defeat the Trezevant Bears 28-20.

It was definitely a tale of two halves, and the Tigers would like to forget the first half. The Trezevant Bears completely dominated Manassas on both sides of ball. On the Tigers first possession of the game, they fumbled deep in their own end. And before folks had sat in their seats, the Bears had jumped out a 7-0 lead less than one minute into the game. Trezevant did not let off the gas and Manassas had no answers. As a result, the Tigers were down 20-0 at half time.

But the Manassas Tigers did not give up. They came storming back to take the all important district game from Trezevant and now begin preparations for Hillcrest. The comeback was fueled by a strong defensive effort in the second half and a very opportunistic offense. The defense was busy recovering fumbles, b locking punts and generally shutting down the Bears throughout the second half. Joaquin Collins and Dexter Alexander lead the defensive efforts in the second half.

After scoring on a 4 yard run by Omar Williams to cut the lead to 20-8, Joaquin stripped the ball carrier deep in Trezevant territory. Shortly afterwards, Will Redmond found Dexter Alexander on an 18 yard pass play. The two point conversion cut the deficit to 20-16 in the 3^rd quarter. Dexter than went to work on defense blocking two straight Trezevant punts. Both of them gave the Tigers great field position that lead to scores in the 4^th quarter. The first score came on a 5 yard run by Omar Williams. On the second blocked punt, Joaquin caught the ball in mid air and rumbled down closer to the Bears goal line. That set up a beautiful 2 yard pass play from Will Redmond to Julius Parson.  This put the Tigers up 28-20 and would prove to be the final score.

However, the defense was not done yet. With Trezevant driving for what would have been the potential tying score, the defense made several key stops deep in their own territory. This included a key sack by Joaquin to finish off his strong performance.

For those in attendance, they saw an amazing performance turned in by Dexter Alexander and his teammates. Playing with a never say die attitude, Dexter led by example and his teammates followed suit. As a result the Tigers have given themselves a leg up in the district race this season. Dexter was catching passes, blocking punts, and making tackles all over the field. For more information on Dexter, please read the article below. This appeared on line at the Commercial Appeal.

The Tigers take to the field this Friday night. Game time is 7:00 PM at BTW stadium against Hillcrest. Please come out and support the Tigers as they continue their march towards the postseason.  Also read the review in the Commercial Appeal.

Each Spring & Fall about 30 people sign up to go on a very special missions trip to downtown Memphis, called Urban Plunge.  During this weekend immersion, attendees visit Oasis of Hope and several partnering ministries in the city, participate in a work project, enjoy speakers, racism panel discussions, tour the National Civil Rights Museum & Slave Haven, visit Eli’s home for dinner, and worship at an inner city church.  This is an intense immersion into our urban neighborhoods and the ministries that are making a difference.  Read on to hear Dennis’ first-hand account of his experience:

Eli, Di, Sharon, Brenda, Rudy, Terry, and Terrice:

I could just have said you all :), but wanted to say thanks using your individual names.  Sharon, asked us to write down what we expected before we went (on the Urban Plunge). Then when we came back to compare it to the experience that we received.

My expectation was that as hopeless as (I felt that way at the time) my life is right now, could I see people as low as myself or lower still able to hold on to their faith in Christ?

Now when we drove through the community, I saw my childhood memories of growing up in Chicago’s lower south side. These weren’t bad memories and I felt comfortable. The next three days was quite a roller coaster ride though, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. From excitement, interest, pride, regret, shame, release, exception, joy and finally sadness in leaving each other that Sunday.

That final day at the First Baptist Church when the pastor preached from Isaiah:54 I felt he was talking to me and saying not to give up on Christ; you’re not alone. I know this and have learned it at Hope, but sometimes you forget and need to be reminded.

Also, I made many friends in the group and hope to embrace these friendships in future friendship. Eli, you said it was a great time for you to get one on one time with us. But it was also a great time for us to get one on one time with the people in the group, people from our church by praying, breaking bread and sharing shelter together.

As with you all (please reference the names at the top), I’m not a great wordsmith as you are, but with great praise to God for bringing you into my life and the people in your life that you put in my life by that extension.

Touch gently the life

Of your fellow man

For the human heart

Shapes as easily

As clay upon

The potter’s wheel

I’ve always tried to pattern my life after these words, but I thank you all in my prays of gratitude. For I truly feel and understand these words better today than I ever had.

Your Blessed servant and hopefully your friend, Dennis

Sept 11 - Manassas vs. Bolivar (Game Final Score 47-3): The Manassas Tigers continued their winning ways with an impressive win on the road at Bolivar Central High School. With a strong performance on both sides of the ball, the Tigers won 47-3.

After surrendering a field goal on the opening drive, the Manassas defense clamped down the rest of the game and held Bolivar to only 143 yards of offense. Included in that defensive performance were interceptions by Dexter Alexander (Dex) and JaTaime Wiggins.

It didn’t take long for the offense to get going. The spark was a 68 yard kickoff return by Joshua Summer (Virginia) following the Bolivar field goal. The Tigers raked up 425 yards of offense led by Omar Williams who scampered for 103 yards and a touchdown on only 11 carries.

The Tigers scored 4 other touchdowns on the ground, with both Antonio Parker and quarterback Will Redmond getting two a piece. The tiger passing game was very efficient with Will Redmond going 5 of 8 for 128 yards. The highlight being a 68 yard touchdown pass to Terrance Oliver (TO).

The Tigers are back in action this Friday, September 18 at BTW for a game against Trezevant. It will be the first district game for Manassas. Please come out and support the Tigers as they aim to get their 3rd win against only 1 loss. Game time is 7:00 PM.

Sept 4 - Manassas vs. Trinity Christian (Game Final Score 40-21): The Tigers quarterback Will Redmond rushed for 221 yards and three scores to lead the Tigers to the win at Jackson Trinity Christian. Manassas tallied 26 first downs and rushed for 346 yards. Antonio Parker added 124 yards as the Tigers improved to 1-1.