Manatee 28 Braden River 20 FINAL

[gatorman001]

Braden River must have gone through its entire book of trick plays tonight, a lot of it was successful! Manatee committed a large number of penalties tonight, and most seem to occur at the worst possible time! A certain Manatee LB filled a hole at the line of scrimmage tonight on Braden River's 1st offensive play tonight with bone crunching tackle, how does he respond afterwards? Like he had made a stop on the goal line on 4th down to preserve a state title win...........I could only bow my head and utter to my wife
........"Geeezzz at least act like you been there for Pete sakes!" He probably had the most total tackles he's had in a single game tonight, but I think I counted 3-4 wiffs on tackles in space that resulted in long gains for Braden River too. The 1st QT I also thought the Manatee WR's were putting very little effort into running crisp routes......

Lot of poor play calling for Manatee tonight too, the one instance that stands out the most.....with Manatee getting the ball in the 4th QT with about 5:30 left on the clock with a 28-13 lead at the 50. Time in my mind to ground and pound a couple of 1st downs and go home winners by running out the clock. So head coach sends out its smallest back and on three successive plays he runs between the tackles for zero net yards, oh and throw in a illegal motion penalty for good measure too. which sets up everything up for the Manatee punter then to shank the punt for a 10 yard punt and Braden River is in business to score a TD with about 1:50 still left in the game to make the score 28-20. Suddenly this game is anything but decided, but after Manatee recovers the onside kick, the head coach sends out its 220lbs TB this time to run the ball which he does effectively to kill the rest of the 1:50 that was still on the clock to preserve the win! Game was much closer than it should have been, but give credit to Braden River for never giving up this game!

 

[MarkECannon]

Looks like Manatee is taking the mantle back as the top program in Manatee County. Braden River had it’s run and Palmetto made some noise. Gatorman001, I’m wondering who you think is Manatee’s main county rival now? The traditional one was Southeast but . . .

 

[gatorman001]

When I graduated there wasn't a county rivalry, Manatee's biggest rival at that point was Sarasota High. 1981 changed all that or Maybe it was more like 2 new coaches set the stage for all of that to change? As 2 programs collectively were about to embark on a 20-30 year era of football never witnessed in Manatee county before.... (that being Joe Kinnan and Paul Maechtle). The reality is however, 1983 was the year it really became a big game! Manatee would go undefeated and win its 1st state title that year, but no game during the regular season was bigger than the Southeast game. Manatee came into that game having steamed rolled pretty much everyone it had played up to that point. Southeast had made some noise but not to the level Manatee had risen too...yet!

The game was a instant classic, as Southeast delivered body blow after body blow to the building Manatee mystic during the game. Yet despite all that as the end of the 4th QT was getting closer to its end, Manatee clung to a small lead. Southeast had gotten the ball in Southeast territory and began a drive that would pretty much eat up all of the remaining time left in the game. Southeast was running it right up the gut of the Manatee defense and moving methodically down the field when the play happened. The Southeast running back had broken out into the clear, all that remained between he and the goalline was Manatee DB Avoid Mays.......... Avoid delivered the HIT (tackle), and/or play of the regular season! As he administered a text book hit on the Southeast RB, the ball came loose and Manatee recovered to preserve the win. I have no doubt to this day if not for that one play, Southeast scores and wins the game. That game set the stage for Manatee's 1st true county rivalry for years to come as both programs would go on to play in and win multiple state titles games the next 30+ years!

Little story about Avoid Mays and his ability to deliver devastating tackles. My brother was at Bayshore High playing in the band, but after the Manatee 1982 season that saw Manatee play Miami Southridge in a Thanksgiving day game that was eventually settled in OT, he changed his mind to eventually become a drummer for a rock band. He had always called himself the fastest white boy in Manatee County, unlike myself he was very much athletically gifted. He immediately transfers to Manatee. as he was actually living in Manatee High's district and spring of 1983 goes out for varsity football at Manatee, having never played a down of organized football a day in his life up to that point. Coaching staff put him at DB and during practice the DB's were going through 1 on 1 drills......brother draws Avoid. Avoid absolutely lays him out, with a tackle that leaves him on the grass field of Hawkins stadium for a minute or two. After practice my brother discusses with then DC Chuck Knowles about his need for picking up more seasoning before playing on the varsity level. He moves down to JV and plays JV ball his junior season and subsequently missed out on getting a state championship Varsity Jacket and ring the next season. I still tease him about that to this day!

There so much movement now with kids its hard to say among the student body as well as migration into the area, how the even view the term rivalries? The kids that still play the game probably harbor better feelings of a true rivalry because of the relationships they've built by playing against each other in the youth leagues, than the actual fan or student body now days if I were to answer with a sentiment on the topic now......

 

[gatorman001]

Looks like Manatee is taking the mantle back as the top program in Manatee County. Braden River had it’s run and Palmetto made some noise. Gatorman001, I’m wondering who you think is Manatee’s main county rival now? The traditional one was Southeast but . . .

Not ready to dismiss Palmetto completely just yet. I'm very much interested to see how Manatee responds as the regular season unfolds its remaining 6 games. As I see 3 games for certain Manatee isn't going to be a favorite and Palmetto still seems to be able to put points on the score board, if it finds some semblance of a defense things could get interesting......Last season Jaquez lost his team by season's end as Manatee went 2-4 and lost in the 1st round to a team it had beat by double digits during the regular season. Just a reminder Jaquez needs a 7 win regular season to rid himself of a overall 3 year losing record as a head coach at Manatee!

 

[MarkECannon]

I was going to mention the Manatee-Sarasota rivalry from the earlier decades before the 80’s. Since it was a question about Manatee County I didn’t.

 

[JonMHS]

Good win for Manatee (4-0) against a very well coached and good football team in (2-1) Braden River. Great performances from Keishawn Smith’s 7 carries for 116 yards and a touchdown! Not to mention Bon Bean Jr’s 5 catches for 140 yards and a score. QB Andrew Heidel was 10-15 for 175 yards and a score. Defense had a great goal line stance. Manatee seemed to take their foot off the gas in the second half. Needs to be able to put away teams when you have a chance. Overall, good win against a good football team. All you can do is try to continue to get better each week! Proud of you Canes!!

 

[gatorman001]

I was going to mention the Manatee-Sarasota rivalry from the earlier decades before the 80’s. Since it was a question about Manatee County I didn’t.

When I started my freshman year at Manatee, it was also the 1st year of existence of Bayshore as a High School. Prior to that it had always been a middle school and is where I also went to middle school. I also practiced during my youth football days in front of Bayshore. A lot of my friends from Bayshore middle comprised almost all of the student body of Bayshore's 1st year as a High School, so it was my assumption that would naturally become a rivalry opponent. I know they got some of the best athlete's from my days of playing youth football....the names Dennis Smalls and Johnny Johnston come immediately to mind! Dennis Small was a relative of Alvin Smalls who had led Manatee to its 1st ever district title at the QB position in 1973, went on to set records at Tennessee Martin at the QB position there too.

The rivalry however never materialized, as Bayshore never did much except for 1980, as I recall them upsetting Manatee during the regular season and then playing Sarasota in a Turkey Bowl game on Thanksgiving day which they lost. Seems if my memory is right that was the bunch that was led by "PIG" Goff, who would later go on to play for the Bucs briefly as a Pro?

If there was a rivalry in Manatee County based steep in tradition, it was the Southeast/Palmetto game. I remember going to a few of those games as a kid. Back then the player of the game was honored with a trophy at the end of the game, and again if memory serves me right, it seems there might have been some association to the Kinnan's as I believe Marjorie Kinnan (Joe's Mom), would usually present a trophy to the winning team's head coach. Game was always played at the end of the season, much in the same way Manatee /Sarasota game would always open up the beginning of the football season.

 

[gatorman001]

Good win for Manatee (4-0) against a very well coached and good football team in (2-1) Braden River. Great performances from Keishawn Smith’s 7 carries for 116 yards and a touchdown! Not to mention Bon Bean Jr’s 5 catches for 140 yards and a score. QB Andrew Heidel was 10-15 for 175 yards and a score. Defense had a great goal line stance. Manatee seemed to take their foot off the gas in the second half. Needs to be able to put away teams when you have a chance. Overall, good win against a good football team. All you can do is try to continue to get better each week! Proud of you Canes!!

At this point of the season, the combined record of the teams Manatee has played thus far is 3-10. Their strength of schedule thus far among other ranked teams from around the state is near the bottom. I felt the game against Lake Minneola was a good win, but I cant put the Braden River win in that category yet as teams Braden River had played up to the Manatee game had combined for zero wins (Not going to count the Lakewood Ranch game Thursday night against IMG Blue -(a glorified intramural team) Lets see where Braden River end up after playing its District schedule?

This week's game against Port Charlotte will be telling. Last year Port Charlotte physically dominated Manatee on both the defensive and offensive lines of scrimmage. #33 NG for Port Charlotte ate the Manatee center #50 lunch the entire game last year. He's back so that will be a match-up worth watching next Friday night in Port Charlotte. The Manatee defense seems to have problems handling big physical running backs too, last year Port Charlotte's #0 Ed Guerrier ran for over 200 yards on the Manatee defense he's back too, and I believe one of the better RB's in the state. This season Port Charlotte apparently also has a speedy back #3 to compliment Guerrier ability to run between the tackles as he's actually ran for more yards as well as scored more rushing TD's then Guerrier thus far this season. Streeter the leading pass catcher for Port Charlotte last season is back, but it appears there are 2 other wr's that have caught passes for over a 100 yards that seem to compliment the Port Charlotte passing attack in as far as not letting defenses focus solely on Streeter.

If Manatee were a well coached team, I wouldn't be too concerned about this game............that's not the case however. The games being played in Port Charlotte, I see folks all around town with Port Charlotte team apparel on, so I know the community will out to support the Pirates for this game! I can see this game following the same pattern as last years game. The key will be is how does the Manatee team come out emotionally for this game and/or will they fold much in the same manor as last year if Port Charlotte is able to take punch and dish it right back physically?