There are 32 high school football teams in eight classifications throughout Georgia who need one more win to reach the state championship game. Each has overcome its share of obstacles — everything from sprained ankles to flooded fields — to get there. It’s part of the process.
But none match the painful path that Manchester High School has followed in its quest to return to the state title game, where it fell one point short a year ago.
Over the past year, the Blue Devils have had two football players shot to death.
Brandon Smith was found dead the day before the team played Bowdon for the state championship last December. Then in April, Daryus Bryant was shot in his car after attending the school’s prom in Columbus, and he died hours later.
“It’s been rough,” said Manchester coach Devonta Prather, who was born and reared in Manchester, graduated there in 2012, played and coached college football at Fort Valley State and returned to his old high school as a coach and administrator.
Both incidents sent shock waves through the small town of about 4,000 residents located in Meriwether County, about 40 miles from Columbus and 65 miles from Atlanta.
“The thing I try to tell those kids is they’ve been faced with a type of adversity that adults haven’t been, and they’re expected to respond in a way that most adults would not be able to respond,” said Prather, who had been the team’s defensive coordinator for three seasons before taking over as head coach this year. “They’re expected to go out and play and not think about what they’ve actually been through.”
Bryant’s loss was particularly devastating. He was the quarterback of the football team, led the basketball team to the state finals and was the state high-jump champion. He was the youngest son of offensive coordinator Cartarsman Bryant.
It was the elder Bryant, who also is Prather’s cousin, who played a pivotal role in guiding the team through the darkest times.
“He’s one of the strongest adults I’ve been around,” Prather said. “We’ve always been close, and he’s always been the guy to help me, guide me, to do the things I would do in my life. I talked to him about not having spring practice because of the incident, because I was thinking he wasn’t going to return. But he said, ‘All these kids have been with me and I’ve been with these kids and I can’t abandon them right now. I still want them to be successful.”
The team has galvanized around keeping Bryant’s memory alive. They came up with a motto “E4R” – Everything for Rock.
“His nickname was ‘Rock’ and they use that as a model to push each other,” Prather said. “When they’re feeling down, they talk about him. They bring him up so they can give more energy to keep going and keep pushing because they understand if he were here, he would be doing the exact same thing. He would be the one pushing through it. He would be the one to get everybody together.”
Manchester responded in a way that “Rock “would have approved. The Blue Devils, led by AJC Super 11 defensive lineman Justus Terry, are 11-1 and have not lost since falling to Class 4A Harris County in the season opener. Last week they went on the road and knocked off previously unbeaten Lincoln County 20-17.
Manchester will host Brooks County, a team it has not defeated in four tries, on Friday in the semifinal round. Brooks County beat Manchester 20-0 for the Class A championship in 1994. The winner advances to play the winner of the Bowdon-Irwin County game, which could end up as a rematch of last year’s title game, on Dec. 16 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
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