Seven.

That’s the amount of combined points Manhattan High football has allowed in its last two games against Highland Park and Topeka West. The 5-0 Indians throttled T-West Friday night, 42-7, and didn’t allow the Chargers to score until late in the third quarter.

“We took control of the game like I expected the kids to do,” head coach Joe Schartz said. “In that aspect, I’m very pleased.”

Manhattan’s rout was already taking shape after the first quarter. Sophomore Keadrian McDonald scored two rushing touchdowns (including an 82-yard burst) and senior Eric Prockish punched it in from 15 yards out to give MHS a 22-0 lead.

“I felt like we came out of the locker room and did what we had to do to take control of the game,” Schartz said.

Early in the second quarter, the Chargers turned the ball over on downs and set up the Indians at their own 27 yard line. It took one play for Manhattan to score as senior Brian Coughlin took the ball 73 yards to the endzone, giving the Indians a 29-0 lead.

“Brian provides a lot of energy and passion, and that’s the type of guy Brian is,” Schartz said. “He’s going to go hard no matter what the situation, and I really appreciate him and I know his teammates really appreciate him.”

That’s when disaster struck for Manhattan. What appeared to be an elementary running play proved not so as senior Daniel Izquierdo Jr. was injured and later carted off the field by medical staff. Izquierdo broke his fibula on the play and will not play for the rest of the season.

“Once the injury happened to Danny, it was hard to get refocused,” Schartz said. “It was real hard to focus. We did what we had to do to win this football game, and now we have to move on and get better.”

After a delay of more than 10 minutes, both teams warmed up and resumed play. Senior Joe Trujillo missed a field goal on the Indians’ drive following the injury, but senior Jake Olson hauled in a 20-yard touchdown pass to widen the Manhattan advantage to 36-0 heading into halftime.

The Indians received the kickoff to open the second half, and Coughlin returned the kickoff to the Chargers’ 34-yard line. Prockish then completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to junior Blake Wewer and MHS led 42-0 before T-West got on the board. Senior Michael Mariani scored from 29 yards out to trim Manhattan’s lead to 42-7, but that would prove to be the final score. MHS ran out the clock and stifled the Chargers’ offense in the final frame.

“We came out and executed well,” Schartz said. “There’s a lot of positives in this game and things to build on; also a lot of mistakes and we’ll have to clean those up at practice.”

Manhattan hits the road on Friday to renew its rivalry with Junction City.

“The kids look forward to [the JC game] every year,” Schartz said. “It’s going to be an exciting atmosphere.”