DANTON BARTO'S gamble paid off in a big way.
Barto let his Manchester Wolves players have the entire bye week off, hoping they would stay fit but rest up and come back ready to play some serious football.
On Saturday night, the Wolves busted out of the gate for a 26-0 lead after the first quarter and cruised to a 53-27 win over Mahoning Valley in front of 5,722 fans at Verizon Wireless Arena.
Manchester got some help from two other teams and was able to jump all the way from ninth place (and out of the playoffs) in the American Conference to seventh place. If the Wolves can win their final two games, no one can bump them from their postseason invite.
"We've got to take care of our own business game by game," Barto said. "We've just got to play good football."
Albany defeated Louisville on Saturday and Iowa knocked off Quad City. That leaves Louisville, Quad City and Manchester all at 7-7. The Wolves own the tiebreaker, which is record against common opponents.
For Manchester, the 7-7 mark represents the complete turnaround of the team. A 1-6 start has become a 6-1 hot streak and the playoffs are now even closer.
"That's a great feeling," said Wolves quarterback James Pinkney, who was 24-31 for 238 yards and six touchdowns on Saturday. "But that's not the ultimate goal. The goal is the playoffs."
On Saturday night, Manchester scored on the opening drive of the game, came up with a defensive stop and then scored again as Dan Oliphant put on a chip block, released and caught a screen pass and scored from 23 yards out.
Oliphant has been playing center all season, but the signing of Darnerius Watson allowed Oliphant to move to guard and report as an eligible tight end. The result was Oliphant's first touchdown since fourth grade.
"I just followed a couple blocks and I was in the end zone," Oliphant said. "It was just a screen pass. It was a good play call."
Jimmy Williams then forced a fumble on defense for the Wolves and Larry McSwain returned the ball five yards to the end zone for a 20-0 lead. A defensive stop led to a touchdown catch from new receiver Keith Stokes and Manchester led 26-0 after one quarter.
"Coach stressed for us to do some things during our break and that's why we played so well in the first half," said receiver Steven Savoy, who caught 11 passes for 106 yards and two TDs. "We just needed to focus and concentrate on what we needed to do."
Mahoning Valley (3-11) managed to play a closer second half, but the Manchester defense continued to come up with stops. On the night, the Wolves had six stops and two touchdowns on defense. The last one put the game away as Dwan Wilson tipped a pass and Carlton Brown caught it for an interception and 24-yard TD return.
"We came together on defense," McSwain said. "We're just meshing. We're hoping to keep getting it together."
Manchester will visit Albany (5-9) on Friday and then host Corpus Christi (6-7) on July 26 to close the regular season. The Wolves could still lose a game and make the playoffs depending on other outcomes, but their hope would be to win out and finish in at least seventh place.
The Wolves could mathematically catch 9-5 teams Lexington, Florida and Green Bay, but would lose the head-to-head tiebreaker against Green Bay (which beat the Wolves). The others would come down to common opponent records, which are not completed.
Mostly, the Wolves will want to avoid eighth place, which would mean a date with East Division champion Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The Pioneers lost in Manchester, but beat the Wolves at WBS and are 7-0 at home with some serious routs among the wins.
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Ian Clark covers pro football for the New Hampshire Union leader and Sunday News. His e-mail address is iclark@unionleader.com.
