With his sophomore brother
Heid Manning snapping as starting center, Arch completed 19-of-34 passes for 238 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed five times for 50 more yards and a score as the Greenies sputtered in a scoreless second half after looking very sharp in the first.
The Newman defense, led by
John Guillot and
Kitt Bachmann, was outstanding throughout, allowing 150 yards total offense and forcing three turnovers.
Both teams were just happy to play as the season was delayed three weeks due to Hurricane Ida, the most damaging storm to hit Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina. Ida made landfall Aug. 26, claimed 111 lives and caused more than $50.1 million in damages. Each team canceled two games and organized this one in the past week. The time off showed as this contest was predictably sloppy with close to double-digit penalties called on both sides.
For a half, Arch Manning showed no rust as his team streaked to a 28-0 lead late in the second quarter. The nephew of Super Bowl winning quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Eli Manning and grandson of College Hall of Famer Archie Manning, accounted for almost 200 yards and four touchdowns in the first 20 minutes.
The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder, threw touchdown passes to three different receivers on the team's first three possessions. He fired an 8-yard out to tight end
Will Randle, a 35-yard strike to
Saint Villere and a 23-yard swing pass to
Terrance Williams Jr. to make it 21-0 with 8:04 left in the second quarter.
On the TD to Villere, Manning showed off his footwork in the pocket, stepping up to avoid pressure from the outside to easily find the junior receiver all alone in the left flat.
After a punt block by Guillot and recovery at the Vandebilt Catholic 1 by
Jack Currence, Manning snuck in to make it 28-0.
His best work might have come with just 15 seconds left in the half as he first scrambled for 29 yards to the Vandebilt 27. He then somehow evaded a big rush, scrambled right and found a wide open
Kai Donaldson for a 27-yard score on the last play of the half. But the TD was nullified by an illegal man down field penalty.
This was the third meeting between the teams since 2004. Newman won easily at home 35-7 in 2015 before the Terriers pulled out a 46-41 home game in 2016.
Vandebilt is coming off a 7-2 season, while losing in the LHSAA Division II quarterfinal playoffs 43-14 to University Lab. Newman went 9-1 in 2020, losing in the LHSAA Division III semifinals 21-7 to eventual champion Lafayette Christian Academy. The Greenies, seeking their first state championship, were the No. 1 seed.
In his first two seasons as starter, Arch Manning threw for 4,360 yards and 55 touchdowns. He was named the MaxPreps Freshman of the Year. Friday was Heid's first varsity start after coming off the bench as a freshman.
Arch Manning, the nation's No. 1 junior recruit, accounted for almost 200 yards and all four touchdowns in the first half of Newman's opening-game win over Vandebilt Catholic.
File photo by Kenneth Steib
