Manatee 28 Armwood 19 Final

[gatorman001]

Manatee opened up with a turnover that led to a quick Armwood score. Manatee took the kickoff and moved the ball, but had the drive stalled out which led to a Armwood 65 yard touchdown drive. Missed PAT made it 13-0 Armwood and things weren't looking good for Manatee. From there the game took on a lot of back and forth, with both teams having their fair share of 1st game mistakes. Manatee started showing more consistency when AJ went at QB and scored 2 late TD's, to take a 14-13 lead going into half.

Observations: Armwood has more than just a few very smooth and skilled athletes. Callahan seems to want a Armwood offense that is balanced, but Im surprised he hasn't just ran straight the Manatee offense to establish itself physically. Armwood defense is fast as well but I didn't get a sense of it being as good potentially as its offense.

Manatee: Josh Booker is just one tuff Mutha! I watched him lead block on a number of wide offensive run plays and he reminds me an awful lot of Chandler Cox lead blocking for Apopka, just literlly blowing up anyone that gets in front him. Running wise he reminds of a Shawn Bain type physical runner. Manatee is going to present problems for any defense this year, its very well coached and AJ is the key piece to it being an over-all success. Defensively I like Quay Mays allot, over-all this unit probably has a way to go before it reaches it potential but still pretty good unit over-all.

Go Canes Go!

 

[gatorman001]

Danny Cater in the Manatee broadcasting booth is 1st class, great in game analysis my man!

Go Canes Go!

 

[gatorman001]

Well............................I was flat wrong about the outcome on this one. Callahan was focused most of the night on the Armwood passing game, and bypassed any real opportunity to run at the Manatee defense. Allot of Armwood mistakes late in the game sealed this one for Manatee.

Manatee has allot to look optimistically to for the upcoming regular season. The Manatee offense is going to be hell to deal with as long as AJ is at the QB position. Defensively I saw enough positive signs to see the defense becoming much stronger as the season moves forward.

Go Canes Go!

 

[jgking83]

I thought this was a very promising performance by the Canes. Proud of Coach Booth and the staff. The kids played a disciplined game. I'm excited!

 

[Roadkillav8r]

Did the varsity play the entire game during a kickoff classic? Varsity played first half only at Niceville.

 

[jgking83]

Both teams played to win this game. Starters played the whole way.

 

[gatorman001]

Did the varsity play the entire game during a kickoff classic? Varsity played first half only at Niceville.

Both teams appeared to play their 1st team players for the entire game........ Only thing that gave the game a preseason feel was Coach Callahan's focus on the Armwood passing game. Other than QB scrambles I bet Armwood ran the ball less than 20 times for the entire game.

Go Canes Go!

 

[peezy28]

Gatorman, they do have a legit QB now but Armwood has basically tried to be a pass 1st time for some time now and while it has worked to get them to states they haven't been able to win the big one since they went away from their run 1st mentality.

Even with the running backs and athletes they have I wouldn't be surprised to see Armwood as a pass 1st team this year.

 

[jgking83]

If Armwood wanted to they could line up and pound the football all night on anyone. They should use their size and D1 RBs to set up their young QB. He's very elusive and made a lot of plays tonight keeping the play alive with his feet. When Armwood ran straight at the Canes they found a lot of success. Once they correct their snapping issues, penalties, and special teams miscues they will be outstanding. This was a great opening game for both teams and they will benefit from it.

 

[BigGatorMike51]

I was impressed with the Canes speed last night. I don't know where they stand talent wise against some of the Manatee teams of the past but to me it looked like the overall quickness was there. That Armwood QB was shifty but didn't really run away from anybody the defense converged on him every time he broke free.

I wasn't expecting great things from this team but after last night it could happen.

 

[twc2499]

QB Devin Black transferred to Armwood for that reason of them throwing more. They went to the spread, something not seen much with Callahan teams. He now is wanting to spread you out and get those athletes out and space and let them do their thing! Boy, do they have some studs on both sides of the ball. One thing surprised me is they only dressed out 38 players?

 

[peezy28]

Actually Armwood has been running a spread for many years now

 

[MarkECannon]

Manatee was impressive Friday night. Booker and #1 provide the offense with plenty of firepower. As for Armwood, in the 2nd half they appeared to be more concerned with developing their weaker receivers than win the game. Their top receiver, Warren Patterson, was basically ignored even when he had single coverage with no safety over the top. It reminded me of Wakulla last year in the state title game when Franks seemed to refuse to even look for Gavin for most of the 2nd half.

 

[jgking83]

Some highlights if you're interested.