Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Ben’s Ford Christian School’s Eagles were defeated by the defending state champion Manchester Academy, 20-0, at home on Friday in the first game of the regular season.

Ben’s Ford punted on its first possession and Manchester scored on its first play from scrimmage to go up, 6-0.

After an interception, Manchester drove 45 yards in seven plays to take a 12-0 lead.

After the start by Manchester, the Eagles held the champs to just eight points, which came in the third quarter.

“I think overall defensively, after the first couple of drives of the game, we settled in and played pretty good,” Ben’s Ford Christian School coach Destin Pittman said. “Offensively, we could never really get anything going. We’ve got to execute better. We had too many holding calls. The running back has to trust it, but with that said, we did hold the top team in the state to 20 points. We’ve got to get ready to open up district and play Prentiss this week and defend our district title.”

The contest against Prentiss Christian School is a District 2A2 road game on Friday.

Manchester has won three of the last four state titles and is now 45-1 in its last 46 games.

Trey Harzog ran for 31 yards on Friday.

Gage Adams rushed for 24 yards and caught two passes for 15 yards.

Defensively, Adams made five tackles and he intercepted a pass.

Ein Knight threw for 15 and yards and ran for 13.

Tucker Pittman led the team in tackles with 8.5, including seven solo stops and one for a loss.

Jonah Holston posted seven stops with six solos.

Jonah Williams tallied 5.5 tackles, three solos and 0.5 for a loss.

Ben’s Ford opens district play on Friday.

“We’ve seen (Prentiss) in the jamboree and we had success in the jamboree against them running the ball, and defensively, we stopped them,” coach Pittman said. “We’ve got to come out, play with a chip on our shoulder and prove we’re the best in the district.”

Prentiss begins this week after being defeated by Wilkinson County Christian County, 62-26, in the season opener.