Manatee will be strong again in 2010

ORLANDO — After stepping off the medal podium, Mike Blakely wanted to step right back into a Manatee huddle.

“To tell you the truth, I’m ready to go back and play football right now,” Blakely, the Hurricanes’ junior running back, said after Manatee fell to Tampa Plant 21-14 in Friday’s Class 5A state championship game.

“If we could restart the game and do it over, I’d be out there right now, playing for my team.”

Given the type of personnel the Hurricanes return next season, Blakley couldn’t be blamed for his enthusiasm.

There was sadness after Manatee’s frantic rally came up a few plays short at the Florida Citrus Bowl. But there was some hope, too, that the foundation crafted by the 2009 Canes will be built upon next year.

They will look different. For the first time since 2005, there will be no Brion Carnes at quarterback and no Ace Sanders at wide receiver. Starters since their freshmen year, the two will graduate after helping the Hurricanes to three playoff appearances, two regional titles and the program’s first state final appearance in 16 years.

But plenty of guys will be back, including Blakely, who had a breakthrough fall after losing most of last year to offseason shoulder surgery. He rushed for 1,401 yards and 16 touchdowns and had 35 receptions for 432 yards and two touchdowns.

Blakely was Manatee’s steadiest performer in the playoffs, running for more than 600 yards in five games and fueling the Canes’ comeback Friday with an 86-yard reception that set up his 2-yard third quarter touchdown run.

He finished with a game-high 183 all-purpose yards Friday.

The guy who scored Manatee’s other touchdown, Quenton Bundrage, is back as well. The junior had a game-high six catches for 79 yards Friday night, finishing with 46 catches on the season and pacing Manatee receivers with 10 touchdowns.

“The underclassmen — the foundation that we set for them, the examples we set for them, everything is going to make them so much better,” Sanders said.

“You’ve still got Blakely, you’ve still got Bundrage, and you’ve got a nice quarterback to come in and replace Brion.”

That’s Cord Sandberg, a freshman who led Manatee’s junior-varsity team to an undefeated season and saw action at the varsity level during the final two regular-season games. The Hurricanes’ long playoff run also bought Sandberg nearly an extra month of practice with the big squad.

“You can’t take nothing away from me, Brion and all the other seniors,” Sanders said. “But you can make an effort to get them at the same level we’re at, and I think they’re going to do a good job with that.”

Defensively, the Hurricanes retain a number of players that evolved in coordinator Jim Phelan’s 4-2-5 scheme and shut the Panthers out during the second half.

That includes an entire line — junior Drakkar Wilson, Chris and Quinton Pompey, and freshman Marquis Dawsey — that became one of the team’s most reliable units. Chris Pompey, an end, had eight tackles and a sack Friday night. His brother, Quinton, paced Manatee with 12 sacks during the season.