Manchester Wolves Manhandle Mahoning Valley Thunder  53-27

MANCHESTER, NH—The Manchester Wolves maintained control of their destiny by manhandling the Mahoning Valley Thunder 53 to 27 on Saturday night at the Verizon Wireless Arena to keep their arenafootball2 playoff hopes alive.

To the delight of the 5,722 home fans in attendance, the Wolves improved to 7-7 on the season and thrashed the Thunder, an East Division rival, for the third time this season. The Thunder, an af2 expansion team in 2007, remain winless in five games against Manchester in the history of the series and dropped to 3-11.

 The Wolves were in command from the opening kickoff to the final gun, never trailing on the scoreboard and finding the end zone almost at will. James Pinkney, the Schutt Offensive Player of the Game, was a perfect 6-for-6 with his throws in the first quarter and ended the night with 24 completions of 31 passes and six touchdowns against one interception.  

With strong protection from Manchester’s offensive line, Pinkney put on an aerial show with wide receiver Steven Savoy as they connected on 11 receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns while wideout Keith Stokes, who signed with the Wolves only this week and was playing in the af2 for the first time, added another pair of touchdowns.

On the defensive side, the Wolves rattled Thunder quarterback Shane Adler for four quarters and he was never able to settle in the pocket nor develop any kind of synchronicity with his receivers. The defense stepped up throughout the game and looked particularly impressive on the Thunder’s first drive of the fourth quarter.  With the Wolves up 39-20, the defense was able to keep Mahoning Valley out of the end zone on three straight downs from Manchester’s 1-yard line.

The Wolves took over on downs and marched the entire 49-yards up the field. When Pinkney hit Stokes with a 6-yard scoring strike, Manchester had a 46-20 advantage with 4:28 on the clock and the game was over for all intents and purposes.

The Wolves, who entered the contest in ninth place for one of the eight American Conference playoff berths, improved their20position for the post season with two games remaining on the schedule.

SCORING:                           1         2        3        4         Final      Record

Manchester                       26        7      6        14        53          7-7

Mahoning Valley                0       14      6         7         27         3-11

PASSING:

Pinkney (MAN):  24-31- 1 INT; 6 TDs

Adler (MVT): 14-38-1 INT; 3TDs

RECEIVING:

Steven Savoy (MAN): 11-106; 2 TDs

Quorey Payne: 6-97; 3 TDs

Schutt Offensive Player of Game: J ames Pinkney (MAN)

ADT Defensive Player of Game: Carlton Brown (MAN)

JLS Ironman of Game:  Bradly Chavez (MAN)

Cutters Catch of Game: Quorey Payne (MVT)