Emporia has enjoyed a three-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will head out to face off against the Manhattan Indians at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.
It's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 47-14, which was the final score in Emporia's tilt against Topeka on Friday.
Meanwhile, Manhattan put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They took their matchup on the road with ease, bagging a 52-0 victory over Junction City. Given the Indians' advantage in MaxPreps' Kansas football rankings (they are ranked sixth, while the Bluejays are ranked 49th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Jaydin Hudley was his usual excellent self, rushing for 152 yards and two touchdowns while picking up 9.5 yards per carry. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in rushing yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Carter Aslin, who rushed for 93 yards and two touchdowns.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Manhattan was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 307 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Manhattan's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. Jj Dunnigan picked up that interception and then proceeded to rub salt in the wound by taking it back the other way for a touchdown.
Emporia dropped their record down to 0-4 with the loss, which was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season. As for Manhattan, their win bumped their record up to 4-0.
Emporia was taken down by Manhattan 51-7 in their previous meeting back in September of 2023. That match was all but decided by halftime, at which point Emporia was down 44-0.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
