NORTH MANCHESTER, Indiana. — A stout defensive effort, coupled with a 20-point outburst from the offense over the final 30 minutes, equaled a 37-23 Homecoming victory for the Manchester University football team Saturday.

After Defiance pieced together a 16-point second quarter to trail the Spartans just 17-16 at the break, the home team got rolling in the third and fourth periods. With the Black and Gold defense limiting the visiting Yellowjackets to a lone scoring drive sandwiched between two three and outs and two other drives ending with fumbles, the offense highlighted four scoring treks with three marches of 50-plus yards as part of two touchdowns and a pair of successful field goal attempts by freshman placekicker Andrew Coe (Huntington, Ind.) to ice the 37-23 victory.

Week six of the 2014 season wasn’t much different from the first five for junior quarterback Logan Haston (Avon, Ind.). He threw for three scores, circulating the pigskin to senior wide receiver Collin Huffine (Centerville, Ind.), sophomore wide receiver Dakota Nelson (Fairland, Ind.) and junior wide receiver Evan Rice (Gosport, Ind.) for a touchdown apiece while compiling 285 yards, marking his sixth successive game of 240-yards-or-more through the air. Huffine and Rice were his favorite targets, going one-two in receiving with Huffine hauling in four catches for 107 yards, and Rice catching six balls for 94 yards. Haston got his legs going, too, with 44 yards rushing which included an eight-yard scoring scamper for the Spartans’ first touchdown.

Dowagiac senior Austin Adams also rushed for 44 yards.

On the defensive side, the numbers were just as impressive. The backfield duo of junior defensive back Taylor Anglemyer (Wakarusa, Ind.) and sophomore defensive back Jarvis Mitchell (South Bend, Ind.) joined sophomore linebacker Jordan Kleber (Seymour, Ind.) top the tackle charts with six (Anglemyer) and five (Kleber and Mitchell), respectively. The front line trio of seniors Stephen Cobles (Edwardsburg, Mich.) and Jon Scribner (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and junior Michael Hammer (Remington, Ind.) kept the pressure on DC’s quarterbacks with a combined three sacks, and sophomore defensive back Brenner Cruce (North Judson, Ind.), senior special teams’ player Alex Stock (Indianapolis, Ind.) and sophomore linebacker Steven Masters (Wheatland, Ind.) each recovered a fumble.

The Spartans take a 3-3 overall and 2-2 HCAC record into their bye week next week. MU’s next venture in the HCAC sends them to Bluffton University of Ohio Saturday, Oct. 25.