Finally on Field Together, Johnson Twins Form Prolific Pair in Manchester Backfield
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
November 11, 2026
When Donte Johnson was a freshman, he was called up to the Manchester varsity football team. At first, he was a fifth-quarter player, moving up from the junior varsity to also play one quarter in the varsity’s games. He eventually made the Flying Dutchman special teams lineup.
Jayden Johnson, his twin brother, didn’t play varsity as a freshman, but stepped in as a sophomore when the projected Manchester starter at his position got hurt. Jayden responded with a great fall. Unfortunately, Donte missed that fall due to a knee injury suffered during basketball season.
As juniors, big things were expected from the duo, but injuries slowed Donte, and Jayden struggled as part of a very young Manchester team.
This season, seemingly out of nowhere, the two blossomed into the dynamic duo, both recording 1,000-yard rushing seasons for a 7-4 Manchester team that played in the Cascades Conference championship game and made the Division 8 playoffs. The trigger was a new offense installed in the offseason as the Flying Dutchmen went from the T formation to the single wing.
“I really liked the offense a lot more,” Jayden said. “I feel like it was meant for us. The T didn’t let our players use their full ability. With this team, this was perfect because we had a lot of speed.”
Donte agreed.
“I think it was interesting,” he said. “We knew we were going to run a different offense, but Coach really didn’t tell us until we went to the Olivet camp. I think it was the best change we could have done.”
Joshua Lindeman, who just completed his third season coaching the Flying Dutchmen, said seeing the Johnson twins together on the football field and playing at such a high level was great not only for the team, but for them as individuals as well.
“I think, because of some of the things they have gone through in the past, football and sports have become part of their identity,” Lindeman said. “To see them together, on the football field, finally, was a great thing to see. They couldn’t be more different, but they genuinely love each other and are great young men.”
The twins are from Manchester, where they have family, including grandparents. At a young age, they moved to northwest Tennessee. They returned to the Manchester area as fifth graders but had to reclassify as students and had different classmates from when they left.
“We had the choice of where we wanted to go to school, but we chose Manchester,” Jayden said. “It had always been home.”
Over the last 18 months, the two were adopted by their aunt, the sister of their mother.
“Sports has been their constant,” said Lindsey Beerens, their aunt. “It was a bad deal for them for a long time, but sports helped them. They moved around a lot when they were younger.
“This year, it was great to see them healthy and playing together. They are so supportive of one another.”
Lindeman said while the twins were both running backs, they couldn’t be more different off the field.
Donte, he said, is the one who talks more frequently, always with something on his mind.
“He is like the donkey from Shrek,” Lindeman said. “I’ve learned that is just who he is. He talks all of the time. It drives Jayden nuts.”
Jayden, on the other hand, is the more reserved of the two, but is also more open to talking about things he has gone through personally.
“If I had a dime for every time I had to tell those two to leave each other alone, I would be driving a much better car,” Lindeman said.
Ultimately, the two are great teammates – to each other and the rest of the team.
“One thing you will see, even though they can be bickering at each other at practice all week or in a game, when the other makes a play, the happiest guy on the field is the other one,” Lindeman said. “The celebration and joy they have over each other’s success is great. If you talk to them, like after Donte makes a good run, Jayden will say something like, ‘I’d (have) made it look better.’ But he has true joy in his heart and is happy for him.
“They are two competitive souls with each other.”
Jayden said Lindeman’s arrival helped spark a change in not only him but the team and community.
“There was a noticeable change,” he said. “I feel like he is pulling everyone together. We are one big family now. The community feels so much closer. Everyone is involved. We have so much support, dads from the community come out every Friday and help set up stuff.
“We have a motto – Family means Forget About Me, I Love You – and I think that pulls everyone together. It makes me want to work hard for everyone around me.”
Donte said he and his brother started playing tackle football at age 8 while they were in Tennessee. They play other sports – Jayden focuses on indoor track in the winter and outdoor track in the spring, and Donte is planning to play baseball this upcoming season – but football has been their main sport for as long as they can remember.
Lindeman said there was a time when he wasn’t sure Donte would play football again, which is one of the reasons this past season was so much fun.
“I watched film of him as a freshman and I thought, ‘There’s my starting quarterback for the next three years,’” Lindeman said. “Then, when I met him, he was hobbling around because of his knee. He sat on the couch in my office at one point and said he wasn’t going to play. When he came back and started playing, you could see his confidence. His whole personality started to shine.”
Together, the twins did more than just lead the Manchester football team to a great season. They lifted up everyone around them.
“They genuinely love each other,” Lindeman said. “It’s been special to watch how both of them were good for us this year because of what they’ve gone through. To watch both of them to do it together was very cool.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) At left, Jayden Johnson, and right, twin Donte Johnson, were both 1,000-yard rushers for Manchester this season. (Photos by Tyler George).
1st & Goal: 2024 Week 9 Preview
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 24, 2024
Over the next 72 hours, high school football will end for many and championship hopes will restart for several, and we will honor and appreciate both.
This is the final weekend of the 2024 regular season, and just more than half of 600 varsity teams will conclude three months that for most were several years in the making. On Sunday, we’ll announce the pairings for this season’s MHSAA Playoffs, and 288 of those teams will begin another season they hope will end in late November with a Finals championship.
And here’s the best part in this moment: There’s still plenty to decide and memories to be made.
Games listed below are tonight unless noted, with results posting as they are reported all weekend on the MHSAA Scores page, and every division’s playoff points summary updating as well as scores are received. Full playoff brackets will be announced at 4:30 p.m. Sunday on FanDuel Sports Network (formerly Bally Sports Detroit), with game dates and times added to MHSAA.com throughout Monday.
Bay & Thumb
Davison (6-2) at Lapeer (5-3) WATCH
Although Grand Blanc wrapped up the Saginaw Valley League Red title last week with its 55-49 win over Davison, the Cardinals can bounce back and lock down not only second place but more importantly a spot among the top half on the Division 1 playoff list. Davison is No. 13 and Lapeer is No. 24, and those two and Grand Blanc have ended up in the same District the last two seasons. Last year Davison and Lapeer played each other back-to-back in Week 9 and then a District Semifinal, with the Cardinals winning 56-55 and 76-35.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Gladwin (6-2) at Frankenmuth (8-0) WATCH, Midland Dow (5-3) at Midland (7-1) WATCH, Port Huron Northern (6-2) at St. Clair (6-2), Ovid-Elsie (7-1) at Standish-Sterling (5-3) WATCH.
Greater Detroit
Detroit Martin Luther King (6-2) vs. Detroit Catholic Central (8-0) at Ford Field
This matchup will conclude a day of Catholic High School League Prep Bowl festivities at Ford Field, and it’s an incredible regular-season finale for the entire state as the 7:30 p.m. kickoff matches the CHSL Central champion Shamrocks against the Detroit Public School League Blue title-winning Crusaders. They last met in a 2019 season opener, won by DCC 24-22, but do have a common opponent this fall as King fell to Warren De La Salle Collegiate 35-13 in Week 2 and the Shamrocks doubled up the Pilots 31-14 in Week 5.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Birmingham Seaholm (6-2) at Birmingham Groves (8-0) WATCH, Saline (5-3) at Lake Orion (6-2) WATCH, Macomb Dakota (7-1) at Oxford (6-2) WATCH. SATURDAY Macomb Lutheran North (7-1) vs. Clarkston Everest Collegiate (8-0) at Ford Field.
Mid-Michigan
Belleville (8-0) at Howell (8-0) WATCH
This Kensington Lakes Activities Association championship game could be considered among Howell’s most notable opportunities in 60 years. The Highlanders are playing for a first perfect regular season since 1963 – according to Michigan-Football.com – and to achieve it they’ll have to overcome a team that has played in three straight Division 1 championship games and won them in 2021 and 2022. Every serious high school football fan in Michigan knows of Tigers four-year star quarterback Bryce Underwood, but Howell also will have to contend with a defense that hasn’t given up a point since Week 6. The Highlanders are familiar with top competition, however, opening with a win over Hudsonville before making their first undefeated league title run since 2008.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Hopkins (6-2) at Belding (7-1), Lansing Everett (6-2) at DeWitt (8-0) WATCH, Petoskey (8-0) at Clare (7-1) WATCH, Fenton (7-1) at Mason (6-2).
Northern Lower Peninsula
Fowler (8-0) at McBain (8-0)
Fowler is the top-ranked team in the Division 8 coaches poll, and McBain is No. 5 in Division 7. Both will carry impressive league title runs into the playoffs, as McBain’s in the Highland Conference included a four-point victory over Division 8 No. 4 Beal City and a seven-pointer over Evart, while Fowler was challenged by Division 7 No. 6 Pewamo-Westphalia in a 14-11 win and opened this season with a 20-6 victory over No. 9 Hudson. Fowler won last year’s Week 9 meeting with McBain 40-0, but this Ramblers team has avenged all three of its other 2023 regular-season defeats.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Croswell-Lexington (6-2) at Ogemaw Heights (7-1) WATCH, Kingsley (6-2) at Charlevoix (6-2) WATCH, Traverse City West (5-3) at Traverse City Central (4-4) WATCH, Traverse City St. Francis (6-2) at Boyne City (6-2) WATCH.
Southeast & Border
Dexter (8-0) at Chelsea (7-1) WATCH
This is a matchup of champions in the Southeastern Conference between the Red’s Dexter and White’s Chelsea, their second as nonleague opponents after years together in the White or the formerly one-division SEC. Chelsea won last year’s matchup 31-21 and owned this rivalry for several seasons until the Dreadnaughts claimed their 2022 contest. The Bulldogs are coming off a 21-20 win over Trenton last week but have otherwise marched through most of their schedule since a season-opening loss to still-undefeated Grand Rapids Northview. Dexter has won six straight by double digits after receiving a forfeit win from Saline in Week 2 and edging Livonia Franklin 27-26 to open the fall.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Ida (7-1) at Clinton (6-2) WATCH, Manchester (6-2) at Jonesville (5-3). SATURDAY Leslie (7-1) at Hanover-Horton (8-0), Kalamazoo United (7-1) vs. Jackson Lumen Christi (7-1) at Ford Field.
Southwest Corridor
Niles (7-1) at Paw Paw (8-0) WATCH
The Wolverine Conference championship comes down to a winner-take-all Week 9 matchup between these two for the second straight season, and with the only loss between them this time Niles’ to St. Joseph all the way back on Aug. 30. The Vikings defeated Paw Paw 56-18 to take the league title last year and again 42-13 for a District championship two weeks later. And there’s no arguing that Niles hasn’t dominated Wolverine play so far, outscoring its six league opponents by a combined 298-27 – although Paw Paw accomplished just about the same, outscoring then same teams by a combined 262-26. The Red Wolves also had early wins over eventual league champions Big Rapids and Berrien Springs before beginning the pursuit of their own.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY White Pigeon (7-1) at Bronson (6-2) WATCH, St. Joseph (7-1) at Portage Central (6-2), Constantine (6-2) at Lawton (6-2) WATCH, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix (5-3) at Kalamazoo Central (5-3) WATCH.
Upper Peninsula
Marquette (6-2) at Kingsford (8-0) WATCH
There are a few storylines here of note. Kingsford, coming off its first 10-win season last year since 2004, is seeking to finish off a first perfect regular season since 2002. But Marquette has a ton riding on this as well; the Sentinels, with their best record since 2021, sit three spots outside the Division 2 playoff field. They will be aiming to defeat the Flivvers for the first time since 2021, and then relying on their previous opponents from this season to have enough Week 9 success (and gain them enough bonus points) to boost them into the field.
Keep an eye on these THURSDAY Negaunee (6-2) at Iron Mountain (8-0) WATCH. FRIDAY Bark River-Harris (5-3) at Menominee (7-1), Houghton (3-5) at Hancock (1-7), Escanaba (4-4) at Gladstone (1-7) WATCH.
West Michigan
Cedar Springs (7-1) at Coopersville (5-3)
These two and Lowell enter the final week of the first season of the River Cities Alliance all tied for first place – meaning the winner of this game is guaranteed at least a share of the championship, and Lowell can pick up a share as well with a win over Greenville. Cedar Springs has bounced back nicely from last season’s 4-5 finish, with its only loss to Lowell in Week 5. Coopersville has guaranteed a fourth-straight winning regular season but is in league title contention this late for the first time in several. The Broncos are coming off back-to-back losses, a two-point heartbreaker against Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills and then a 24-7 defeat to a league champion in Big Rapids last week.
Keep an eye on these THURSDAY Grand Rapids West Catholic (6-2) at Zeeland West (7-1) WATCH. FRIDAY Rockford (6-2) at East Kentwood (5-3) WATCH, East Grand Rapids (5-3) at Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central (6-2), Manistee (5-3) at Mason County Central (7-1).
8-Player
Alcona (8-0) at Deckerville (8-0) WATCH
The 8-player slate this week has multiple league-title deciders – but this one could impact the pursuit of the Division 1 championship over the next month. Deckerville is No. 1 in 8-player Division 1 playoff-point average at 37.750, and Alcona is just behind at No. 2 and 37.542. Of course other numbers come into play, both will be need to win their first three playoff games, and maps aren’t even drawn yet – but if they end up on the same side of the bracket, tonight’s matchup could end up determining which teams hosts a Semifinal rematch if that becomes reality.
Keep an eye on these FRIDAY Powers North Central (7-1) at Crystal Falls Forest Park (8-0), Gaylord St. Mary (7-1) at Indian River Inland Lakes (8-0), Pittsford (7-1) at Climax-Scotts (7-1), Munising (6-2) at Pickford (8-0).
MHSAA.com's weekly “1st & Goal” previews and reviews are powered by MI Student Aid, a division within the Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP). MI Student Aid encourages students to pursue postsecondary education by providing access to student financial resources and information. MI Student Aid administers the state’s scholarship and grant programs that help make college Accessible, Affordable and Attainable for you. Click to connect with MI Student Aid and find more information on Facebook and Twitter @mistudentaid.
PHOTO A pair of Ovid-Elsie defenders close in on New Lothrop’s Michael Schachter (9) during the Marauders’ 42-0 Week 8 victory. (Photo by Click by Christine McCallister.)