Canes head into regionals on roll

SARASOTA — Here’s a message to the playoff teams of Class 5A: Manatee’s offense is firing on all cylinders.

The Hurricanes used a balanced attack at lightning speed to dismantle host Booker 42-7 Friday in the regular-season finale.

Manatee rolled up 386 yards in the victory and has outscored its past two opponents by a combined score of 113-7.

“We have some explosive players, and they played well,” Canes coach Joe Kinnan said. “We have a chance to be pretty good. We have a lot of weapons.”

And those weapons were on display against the Tornadoes (3-7).

Four of Manatee’s six-scoring drives took less than two minutes.

Canes quarterback Brion Carnes found wide receiver Ace Sanders for a 42-yard touchdown on the third play from scrimmage.

Manatee (9-1) recovered a Booker fumble on the Tornadoes 29-yard line, and two plays later, running back Mike Blakely hit pay dirt on a 22-yard scamper, arming Manatee with a 14-0 cushion three minutes into the game.

The Canes held a 35-7 advantage at the break.

Carnes connected on 8-of-12 passes for 175 yards and didn’t play in the second half. Blakely added eight carries for 86 yards and two more touchdowns of 1 and 10 yards in the first half.

Yet, the junior running back still saw room for improvement.

“We had some mental errors,” Blakely said. “We just go through the motions sometimes, and we need to come out and play 100 percent.”

That’s just a sign of a veteran player staying humble in the wake of opening the Class 5A-Region 3 quarterfinals at St. Petersburg Gibbs on Friday.

“We wanted to let our seniors get their last win for the regular season,” Blakely added. “Next week, we want to be mentally there and execute.”

The Tornadoes’ offense had a difficult time executing against the Canes defense.

Booker’s lone scoring drive in the first quarter was aided by four Manatee penalties.

Manatee’s defense atoned for its earlier hiccup with a goal-line stand on the Tornadoes opening drive of the second half.

“We came out underestimating (Booker) at first, thinking we were going to play with them,” Manatee defensive lineman Quinton Pompey said. “When push came to shove, we bounced back. In the second half, we didn’t need a pep rally or talk, we knew what we had to do and finished it.”