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Manning athletics tightening belt under tough times By David Shelton Staff Writer Manning – It’s a common theme in districts all around the state. Poor economic times are leading to cutbacks in school districts and the effects are trickling down to the athletic departments at the high school level. Manning High is not immune to the financial issues and athletic director Robbie Briggs reports that his department’s budget has been cut. “We took a 24 percent cut in the budget and that has forced us to re-work some things,” said Briggs, who also serves as the school’s head football coach. “We had to restructure some of our junior sports and do some things differently. Basically we’ve just cut out seventh-graders from the junior high teams. Those kids will play in the recreation league and the eighth and ninth-graders will be together now. “We’re not going to dwell on the negative stuff. It is what it is. Everything will work itself out. We just have to be more creative with the things we are doing.” Briggs did have positive news to report on. Manning recently was able to complete some renovations on the weight room, adding new equipment and updating the weights. As the athletic director, Briggs has not had to hire any new coaches for the coming year. He says that his varsity sports staff will return intact, as will his own varsity football coaching staff. “No teaching slots available means we can’t hire new people and bring people in,” said Briggs. “That’s another reason for the restructuring of the younger football group. It’s hard to find eight qualified and quality coaches for football, much less finding four or five more for the junior high kids.” On the football staff, Brian Joyner returns as the school’s offensive coordinator. Mike Moss returns as the offensive line coach and Keith Stewart coaches wide receivers. Mark Green is the school’s running backs coach. Defensively, Briggs coaches the secondary and coordinates the defense. Steve Crisante coaches linebackers and Tony Felder coaches the defensive linemen. As for the other varsity sports, longtime tennis coach Kay Young will return to coach the girl’s team in the fall and the boy’s team in the spring. Young led both teams into the state playoffs last season. The girl’s lost in the first round to Aynor and the boy’s lost in the first round to Dillon. The girl’s tennis program has one of the state’s top players in rising senior Lindsay Lyles. As a freshman, Lyles won the state singles championships for AA/A and last fall finished state runner-up. John Thames has been the girl’s basketball coach at Manning since 1968 and continues to produce winning teams. Thames is nearing the 800 win mark for his career and led the Lady Monarchs into the state playoffs again last season. Jabari Deas is the boy’s basketball coach and he guided the Monarchs to a third-place finish in the region last year and a spot in the lower state playoffs. Keith Stewart just completed his first season as the head baseball coach. Stewart is a former player at Manning and played on the college level at Charleston Southern. Lori Johnson returns in her role as softball coach. Manning made the lower state playoffs this past spring, winning one game before losing two. Joyner returns as the track coach during the spring of the year. Briggs and his staff are preparing for the start of preseason practices in football. Expectations are high in 2010 after the Monarchs made a great run in the state playoffs last fall. Manning was second in the region behind Timberland but got on a roll in the playoffs. Manning beat Mullins, Burke and Cheraw to advance to the lower state championship game. Unfortunately the run ended there as Dillon won, 30-14, on their way to a second consecutive state title.

"We really controlled the football game, but early in the fourth quarter they had a chance to pick the football off and tie us up. The field conditions allowed both teams to be a little more careful with field position because there was some mud on the field. Andrews played extremely well and we had four turnovers so it was a closer game than we thought it was going to be," head coach Robbie Briggs said.

Running back Marcos Pearson had a big night for the Monarchs, rushing for 218 yards and a pair of scores on 32 carries. Dayshawn Dixon gained 45 yards on 10 attempts with a touchdown. Quarterback Brandon Miller connected with tight end Dexter Morant for an 11-yard scoring strike and placekicker J.C. Harrington made all four of his extra point attempts.

Heading into the final game of the season, there is still a lot on the line for Manning. They host Waccamaw this week, with both teams tied for second place in conference play. Not only will the winner have bragging rights for the next year, but also earn a first-round home playoff game.

"Waccamaw is a good football team. They run that spread offense and have some quality skill people. They're very physical up front on the offensive line and they make you defend the entire field. We're going to prepare for this game like we've prepared for all of them, one day at a time," Briggs said.

Once the playoffs begin, anything can happen. The biggest concern for Briggs and his staff now is the health of the players. They've already had several veterans miss significant action during the year due to injury and can ill afford to have that happen

"We just want the kids to stay focused and stay healthy. We had a stretch there mid-season where a lot of our kids were out and we need them to be ready for the playoffs," Briggs said.

One key player that has come back strong from an injury is John Fulton. The highly-regarded prospect has made an impact on offense, defense and special teams since his return.

"John is a two-way player so that takes care of two men on the field. He makes you defend the whole field because you have to know where he is on every play. Defensively he's been really solid for us the last month and on special teams he is a quality returner. He does the little things that most people don't appreciate," Briggs said.

Overall if Manning wants to make a deep run in the postseason they will have to continue to pound the football on the ground and keep it secure. If they don't minimize their mistakes, they could find themselves sitting at home in late November.

"The offensive line has played well the last two weeks and we feel like we've found our identity on offense, being a little more physical than the first few weeks. We're real pleased with that, but we still have to limit our turnovers. We've had 10 turnovers in the last three region games and only created two turnovers in that same span," Briggs said.