Fresh off a win over Douglass High School in Soul Bowl 2009, the Manassas Tigers found themselves taking on the Northside Jaguars in what should have been called The Mud Bowl. The Tigers came out flat and struggled through most of the first half against a Northside team that came in with a record of 1-7. It wasn’t until late in the first half that the Tigers put together a drive to go up 8-0 on a nice 29 yard pass play from Will Redmond to Terrance Oliver. This would get Manassas rolling towards an eventual victory, 34-0.

The game marked the first shutout of the season for Manassas. For a defensive unit that has played well most of the season, this was a nice reward for their hard work. And they wasted no time in letting Northside know that they were in for a long night. After kicking off to start the game, the Tigers would make a statement on the first play from scrimmage. Senior Dexter Alexander cut down the Northside running back in the backfield for a loss and set the tone for the rest of the night. On a very wet and muddy field, the defense would make sure the Jaguars would be spinning their wheels most of the night. They would limit Northside to only 6 first downs and 135 yards of offense.

A key player on the defensive side of the ball also proved to be a valuable weapon on special teams and offense. Chavis Daniels played his best all around game of the season and helped to lift his team out of the funk they were in. Chavis would recover an onside kick late in the first half and intercept a pass and return it to the one yard line to set up a score in the second half.  And to top things off, Chavis scored his first touchdown of the season on a 5 yard pass from quarterback Terrance Oliver to complete the scoring in the 4^th quarter. T.O. once again proved how valuable he is to this Manassas team by catching a touchdown pass in the first half and then throwing one in the second half.

In the second half the Tigers proved to be too much for the Jaguars After making some adjustments to account for the defensive schemes of Northside, Manassas would score two touchdowns in the 3^rd quarter to put the game away. The first score came on a 35 yard pass over the middle from Will Redmond to JaTaime Wiggins. Later in the quarter, Will would keep it himself for a one yard touchdown run. And it wouldn’t be a Manassas game without Omar Williams scoring. So in the 4^th quarter, Omar would do just that on a 2 yard run to complete his night. Omar would carry 18 times for 100 yards to lead the rushing attack that also saw Antonio Parker get 51 yards on only 7 carries.

The Tigers shot themselves in the foot a couple of times or the game would have been even more lopsided. Costly penalties on a fake punt that went for a long gain and on a punt return that was called back would take 14 points off the board for Manassas. These types of mistakes could prove to be costly come playoff time. Fortunately the Tigers have one more game to fine tune things prior to playoffs.

The Tigers celebrated the victory and a berth in the playoffs by diving and sliding headfirst across the muddy field. This Friday night the Tigers will wrap up the regular season by celebrating senior night and taking on Kingsbury High. Game time is 7:00 PM at Crump Stadium. Come on out and show your support for the Tigers. They have had a great season and plan on closing it out in style. Don’t miss it.

A football team is composed of three phases; offense, defense and special teams. To be a pretty good team, they need to play well in two out of three of those. To be a special team, they need to play well all three phases. Based on how the Manassas Tigers have played recently, they have a chance to be a special team. And on Thursday night the Tigers didn’t waste much time to put all three phases in action on their way to a 41-12 win over Douglass in Soul Bowl 2009.

After the defense did their job and forced a punt by Douglass, Dexter Alexander continued his remarkable special teams play. For the fourth game in a row, Dexter blocked a kick. The Tigers recovered deep in Douglass territory. A few plays later, quarterback Will Redmond went 9 yards for a touchdown.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Tigers surprised Douglass with an onsides kick. After initially catching the kickoff, the Douglass player was rudely greeted by Chavis Daniels. A vicious hit that had the fans in stands going nuts separated the ball from the player. Manassas recovered the fumble in Douglass territory. Next thing you know, Omar Williams goes off tackle and races 46 yards for a score to put Manassas up 14-0 and the rout was on.

The defense continued their dominance the rest of the half and held Douglass scoreless. A 40 yard run by quarterback Will Redmond would finish off the scoring and after another successful kick by Josh Sills, the Tigers went to the locker room with a 21-0 lead.

When asked about his secret to blocking kicks, Dexter Alexander said it comes down to two things. Watching the ball to ensure he gets a good jump and then “going all out” when he gets close to the kicker. And going all out is exactly what he does. Dex lays out on every kick in hopes of helping to turn things in favor of his Tigers.

As the second half got underway, the Tigers kept their foot on the gas. On the first possessions of the half, Omar would score his second of three touchdowns of the night on a 2 yard run. On the very next possession, Will Redmond would find speed burner and last weeks Uncommon Man of the week Terrance Oliver on a 45 yard pass play to put Manassas up 33-0.

Omar Williams would finish off the scoring in the 4^th quarter on a 53 yard run. Douglass would get two second half touchdowns on the tough Manassas defense. Most of the Douglass offense in the second half came on the arm of quarterback Samario Bankston. Samario and his team showed a lot of heart in not giving up despite the outcome of the game. He was 16 of 32 for almost 200 yards.

So back to what it takes to be a special team. One of the aspects to good special teams play is the kicking game. After having lost the past two years in the state playoffs by one point, the Tigers knew they needed to establish a kicking game. Well as they march towards another playoff appearance, the Tigers may have found their secret weapon in kicker Josh Sills. His ability to kick extra points may prove to be the difference in a close game.

The Manassas Tigers are now 7-1 with two important games left on the regular season schedule. This Thursday night, October 22, the Tigers will take on Northside High at 7:00 at Crump Stadium. Come on out and support the Tigers as they continue their march towards the postseason. Buy your tickets in advance at the school to benefit Manassas.

The Manassas Tigers are hoping to eventually break out the old Queen song, “We are the Champions.” But in the mean time, they are living up to an old Doobie Brothers song, “Takin’ care of business.” And this past Thursday night they took care of business against Frayser. In a very methodical and dominating manner, the Tigers beat Frayser 41-6.

Fresh off being named Shelby County Offensive Player of the Week , Omar Williams didn’t take long to get things started for Manassas. On the first play from scrimmage for the Tigers, Omar took the handoff from Will Redmond and went 40 yards for a touchdown.  Omar would score two more touchdowns in the first half and Antonio Parker would take one to the house from 33 yards out. At the half, the Tigers lead Frayser by a score of 27-0.

The defense played a solid game from start to finish. They held Frayser without a first down in the first half. For the entire game, Manassas yielded only 4 first downs and 90 yards of offense to Frayser.

In the second half, the Tigers would score two more touchdowns. The first one, a 4 yard run by quarterback Will Redmond was set up by a blocked punt by Dexter Alexander deep in Frayser territory. Following that score, it looked like Frayser would take the ensuing kick off 90 yards for a touchdown. But kicker Terrance Oliver would have none of that. As the last Tiger between the Frayser player and the Manassas goal line, TO made a beautiful open field tackle. The defense buckled down from there and held Frayser from scoring despite great field position.

In the fourth quarter, Will Redmond finished off the scoring on a nice 43 yard run. That would close out the score and send the Tigers to their sixth win against only one loss.  The Tigers have only three regular season games left. All of those games will be played at Crump Stadium.

The Tigers next test will be this Thursday night, October 15. Manassas will take on Douglass High School in the Soul Bowl at Crump stadium. Game time is 7:00. Come on out and support the Tigers as they continue their march towards the postseason. Buy your tickets in advance at the school to benefit Manassas.

In what will go down as one of the best performances in the history of Manassas Tigers football, Omar Williams carried his team to victory at St. Benedict’s on Friday night. After the 54-41 victory, the Tigers now find themselves at 5-1 and in the midst of a 5 game winning streak.

Just a week after celebrating their own homecoming with a victory, the Tigers went out east and wrecked the homecoming for St. Benedict’s. The Tigers will be looking to do that again this week when they travel to take on Frayser for their homecoming game.

The Tigers came into this game with key injuries on the offensive line, the defensive line, and in the backfield. To make matters worse, they found t themselves in a 28-13 hole with less than one minute to go in the first half. That’s when things changed in a hurry. With time running out in the first half, quarterback Will Redmond got the ball in the hands in one of the Tigers most dangerous players. Once Terrance Oliver caught the pass in St. Benedict’s territory, he knew exactly what do. After weaving his way thru traffic and outracing a couple of defender’s the final 10 yards, T. O. found himself in the end zone to cap off a 60 yard pass play to end the half.

Inspired by the final play of the 1^st half and following some words of “encouragement” by Coach Courtney, the Tigers came out a different team in the second half.

The strategy was simple, have Will hand the ball off to Omar and let the big boys up front open some holes for Omar to run through. And run he did. Omar ended up with 363 yards on 27 carries resulting in 6 touchdowns. Yes, you read that correctly. 363 yards and 6 touchdowns. With that performance, if Omar is not player of the week in the city, than I want an investigation. Let’s give the well deserved credit to OC Brown, Julius Martin, Ratavious Laws, Eric Fulton, and Jimmel Grant. These guys worked hard to get Omar the room he needed. And once he got thru the line, there was no stopping Omar. The moves he made in the open field left the defenders grabbing at air and the fans in stands dancing in the aisles. The Tigers would go on to outscore St. Benedict 27-0 in the 3^rd quarter to put the game away. All told, Manassas racked up over 520 yards of offense. This included two scoring passes from Will Redmond to Julius Parson.

The defense came out in the second half having made some adjustments and looked like a different bunch of guys. Chavis Daniels, inserted at defensive tackle to start the second half, combined with Joaquin Collins, Deon Amos, and Julius Parson to form a very tough defensive line. This made it easier for the rest of his defensive unit to run around and make plays. As a result, Dexter Alexander did what he seems to be doing each week. Dex picked off a St. Benedict pass to set up a 2^nd half score. In addition, true freshman James Fisher had his first career interception.

This might be one of those games that the Tigers look back on as a pivotal point to their season. Down by two touchdowns just before half and on the road, they could have thrown in the towel. But if we have learned anything about this team after six weeks is that they never give up.

The Tigers next test will be this Thursday night, October 8. Manassas will travel to Greenhill Stadium to take on Frayser at 7:00. Come on out and support the Tigers as they continue their march towards the postseason.