Manatee High goes long for football game

BRADENTON — The centerpiece of Manatee High’s trip to Pennsylvania is the game.

At 8 p.m. Saturday night, the Hurricanes, ranked sixth in the nation by USA Today, open the regular season against Woodland Hills in the finale of the four-game Rally at Wolvarena.

But the sentiment throughout the Manatee camp is that the trip, the Hurricanes’ first one out of state, is about more than football.

It’s about the experience. It’s about learning how to pack and prepare for a plane ride, with this morning’s flight out of Tampa being the first for many of the Hurricanes.

It’s about playing in a different part of the country against a different team that plays a different brand of football.

“A lot of people on the team have never been on an airplane, going as far as Pennsylvania,” senior running back Mike Blakely said. “I’m pretty sure everybody is excited about that. But I’m pretty sure everybody is excited about going out of state and playing football.”

Manatee’s wanderlust was stoked by last season’s run to the Class 5A state final, which included a victory over Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas — at the time ranked No. 1 in the nation — in a state semifinal that thrust the Hurricanes back on the national radar.

Initially, the plan was to head to New Jersey and face Don Bosco Prep, which was named the mythical national prep champion after the Canes beat Aquinas. But when those plans fell through, Manatee chose to head to western Pennsylvania and face Woodland Hills, which has made 21 playoff appearances in 23 years of existence.

Most importantly, however, they wanted to play in Wolvarena — also known as a Turtle Creek Stadium — which seats approximately 12,000 and was chosen by USA Today as one of the top 10 high school stadiums in the country.

The trip comes in the wake of last week’s Kickoff Classic that brought ESPN into Hawkins Stadium. Such moves were made not just to increase Manatee’s exposure nationally, but to better prepare the players for potentially bigger games down the road.

The Hurricanes suffered some early shock during last December’s state final, which was played at the cavernous Citrus Bowl. in Orlando. Their opponents, Tampa Plant, knew what to expect, having been there the year before.

“For our kids, many of us felt as though we were a little out of sorts because we were in awe of the situation,” said Manatee special teams coach Dennis Stallard. “I think this is wonderful, because with the ESPN game and the Pittsburgh trip, should we be so fortunate to get back in the hunt again, I think our kids would be able to perform the way they normally perform.”

Weeks such as these are prone to distractions. But Manatee looked focused during its win over Plant last Friday, and Blakely said the Hurricanes have been focused but loose during practice this week.

“We’re out here to focus and have fun and play football,” he said. “It’s 100 percent focused, but we may cut a joke or something as a way to have fun while you’re focused and working hard. We like to have fun while we’re doing it.”

Of course, Manatee wants to have the most fun toward the end of the season, which the Canes hope includes a repeat trip to Orlando.

And that’s what these past two weeks are all about.

“Last week, we played on national TV. This week, we play a team from a different state,” Blakely said. “There’s nothing but big things going on right now, and you can’t be anything but happy about it.”