Manheim Central sprinkles in some magic, stuns Smyrna (Del.) on Aaron Enterline's late TD grab

WILMINGTON, Del. — Manheim Magic is alive and well.

Trailing by five points against the reigning Delaware state champions, and facing a last-gasp, fourth-and-long, must-have play — and with their backup QB taking his first varsity snap — the Barons pulled a rabbit out of their hats.

Ray Lewis, forced into action when starting QB Zac Hahn was helped off the field with an injury after Central’s third-down play with time running, lofted the game-winning touchdown pass to Aaron Enterline, who went up in traffic and hauled in the catch at the top of his leap, and then finished off the miraculous 38-yard TD grab in the waning seconds.

It capped Central’s wild 37-36 win over Smyrna (Del.) in the Mid-Atlantic Pigskin Classic on Friday afternoon in Abessinio Stadium at Salesianum School. The Eagles, who won the Delaware Class 3A state championship last fall — the largest classification in the state, by the way — had taken a 36-31 lead on a long TD pass with 3:06 to go.

Manheim Central vs. Smyrna (Del.) - Mid-Atlantic Pigskin Classic [photos]

Undaunted, Hahn engineered the game winning drive, hitting Bode Sipel for a pair of completions to get Central into position. But the drive hit a snag when the Barons came up short on third down with 25 seconds to go. And when Hahn had to come off the field after that play, Central coach Dave Hahn called on Lewis for the last play.

“This is how it went down,” Dave Hahn said. “Ray, just throw it up to Aaron. That’s it. That’s all we wanted him to do. Don’t hold the ball. Just throw it up there to Aaron.”

“Jimmys and Joes,” Central’s skipper added. “And he threw it to our Jimmy.”

Enterline made a fabulous play, going up between a pair of defenders to make the grab. He sauntered into the end zone for the lead. Smyrna was pinned at its own 5 after the kickoff, and ran out of time.

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Manheim Central senior WR-DB Aaron Enterline during Section 2 of the L-L League Football Media Day festivities at the LNP|LancasterOnline offices in Lancaster on Friday, Aug. 4, 2023.
CHRIS KNIGHT | Staff Photographer

“We knew what we were going to do,” Enterline said. “Coach told him to just throw it up there. He threw it a little earlier than I thought, so I had to speed up. And I just went up and got it. I went numb when I crossed the end zone.”

It looked for a while like the Barons might completely blow Smyrna’s doors off. Central bolted to a 21-0 lead, getting a 4-yard keeper from Hahn, Hahn’s 16-yard dart to Enterline, and a 2-yard plunge from Brycen Armold.

Smyrna got two long TD passes before the half, cutting Central’s lead to 24-14 at the break.

Central’s defense bent but ultimately did not break. Smyrna ran all kinds of funky sets. Three different quarterbacks took snaps. They ran some Wildcat packages. The QB would hesitate before either handing the ball off or keeping it to pass. They would literally substitute multiple players — like a line change in hockey — between plays.

Smyrna had 429 passing yards — four of the Eagles’ five touchdowns came on long pass plays — including completions that covered 65, 66 and 74 yards. Some were on busted coverages, some after quarterbacks were flushed out of the pocket.

Central took a seemingly safe 31-22 lead when Armold had a 10-yard TD bolt late in the third quarter. But Smyrna never went away, and was poised to ice it with any kind of a defensive stop in the waning seconds.

But the Barons — cue some Manheim Magic — had other ideas.