Manchester’s Evan Hochstetler named 2017 All-Bi-City 1A-3A Coach of the Year

In his first two seasons at Manchester, head coach Evan Hochstetler had seen the team’s win total tick up from eight in 2015 to 10 in 2016. While his Blue Devils had a hard act to follow this fall, they were ultimately able to one-up themselves once again.

The Blue Devils stormed through the regular season unscathed, posting a perfect 10-0 record and outscoring opponents 407-108 along the way. Manchester advanced to the Class A-Public quarterfinals, where it ultimately lost in the last minute to Mount Zion-Carrollton 10-6.

Thanks to his team’s strides for the third straight season, Hochstetler has been selected as the 2017 All-Bi-City 1A-3A Coach of the Year.

“Anytime you can have success back-to-back years, that’s big for any program,” Hochstetler said. “(In 2016), we made it to the quarterfinals and were region runner-up. This past year, we were able to win the region championship. I thought that was good to bring the region championship back to Manchester High School, especially against a high-quality opponent like Macon County.”

Hochstetler chalked up the team’s achievements in 2017 to a number of factors. The Blue Devils were a senior-laden team on both sides of the ball, which helped in terms of experience as well as buy-in to what the coaches called for. Fundamentals were stressed throughout the summer into the season, and judging by the results, everyone understood how to get the job done.

Manchester rolled through its first nine games — which included three shutouts — before facing off with Macon County for the region championship. It came down to the wire, but the Blue Devils’ touchdown with under a minute to go sent them home with a thrilling 22-20 victory.

It was a special win in the moment, but in Hochstetler’s mind, it will mean even more in due time.

“(That win) shows you the character a lot of our kids have at Manchester. They’re not only quality athletes, but they’ve got big hearts as well,” Hochstetler said. “That’s one of the top games that 10 years from now I’m probably going to enjoy a lot more than I did that Friday night. I’ll probably pop the tape in or whatever and watch it. It’s going to bring back a lot of good memories.”

The Blue Devils lose 19 seniors off their 2017 squad, but for Hochstetler, there is no excuse to not produce again next fall. He said given Manchester’s rich history of winning, the task now is to maintain the program’s level no matter the obstacles.

Manchester had a lot of eyes focused on it this fall, and the Blue Devils were able to live up to many lofty goals. Many may not expect as much come 2018, but don’t count Hochstetler among that group.

“We’ve got a lot of kids who are no names to the state of Georgia,” Hochstetler said. “We’re going to come in with a chip on our shoulders. People are going to expect us to be down, but we’re going to work hard to prove people wrong.”

This story was originally published December 22, 2017 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Manchester’s Evan Hochstetler named 2017 All-Bi-City 1A-3A Coach of the Year."