Expect the unexpected

Cain White expected big things out of Manila in his first season as head coach even when others didn’t.

After coming off a 1-8 campaign last year, Lions were picked to finish last in the 3A-3 Conference by league coaches in the preseason. However, White’s team – one that returned a bevy of starters on offense and defense – has bucked those odds by playing some of the program’s best football over the past decade.

Manila (6-1, 4-0) has won six games in a row and is locked in a three-way tie for first place with Osceola and Hoxie. The Lions, who’ll host Hoxie on Friday, have already won as many games this year as they did in the previous three seasons combined.

“Did we expect to be 6-1, maybe not necessarily,” said White, who was the team’s offensive coordinator last year. “But we did know we were going to have a successful season. To rattle off six wins in a row and then to play for a potential share of a conference title. … It’s exciting times around here right now, and the kids deserve it.”

There has been just one winning season for Manila since 2008 and that occurred in 2015 when the team went 6-5. Ever since that year, they’d won just 13 games total before making a splash this season.

The Lions are averaging just over 33 points and have a standout defense that pitched a 42-point shutout a week ago at PalestineWheatley.

“Our defense has played lights out, really all seven weeks,” White explained. “We gave up three big plays against Earle, and that was the difference in the game, to go along with the six turnovers we had. We’ve won the turnover battle in every game since then, and that kind of tells the story.

“Valuing the football, holding on to it, time of possession of battles. All of that’s been key, along with the way the guys have faced adversity.”

That adversity was thrown out there early when the Lions realized where they were picked in the 3A-3 before the year started.

“We saw that we were picked last in the conference, and we kind of used that,” Cain explained. “We didn’t harp on it too much, but we go out and play with a chip on our shoulder every week. All of that has helped when we’ve faced even more adversity.

“We went down early against [East Poinsett County] on the second play of the game. We go down early to Corning on a muffed punt. We go down 12-0 in the first four minutes against Harrisburg. What makes you a man in life is not how you respond when things are going good, it’s how you respond when things go bad. And these guys have responded.”