Ace Sanders caught the pass in his gut and saw the white jersey of a Sarasota safety.
The safety hesitated.
"Then it was too late," Sanders said.
The Manatee wide receiver spun off the tackler and bolted down the sideline for a 74-yard touchdown on what would prove to be yet another field day for the Brion Carnes-to-Sanders connection in host Manatee's 34-7 win over Sarasota.
Manatee center Jarrod McKenzie said Sarasota sent at least one extra man to blitz on every play, but Manatee usually found a solution, as it did late in the third quarter when Carnes dumped a pass off to fullback Xavier Mayo for a 48-yard score on 3rd-and-8.
And sometimes, Carnes simply did a little leg work. In the first quarter, Carnes scrambled to the right, then curled back to the left. Sanders was running a deep route to the end zone. "I thought he got sacked," Sanders said. When Carnes escaped from the pack, Sanders threw a hand in the air, and Carnes send a high pass to the corner of the end zone where Sanders caught it for a 34-yard touchdown.
Manatee (5-1), despite 11 penalties for 70 yards, managed to keep enough drives going to down Sarasota (1-4).
"We had too many turnovers and penalties," Manatee coach Joe Kinnan said. "And I think in the second half our defense came out flat."
Sure enough, after the Hurricanes took a 20-0 lead into halftime, Sarasota put together a 9:12 drive to cut the lead to 20-7.
"We just need to focus," Kinnan said, "and close the door on a win. We've got too much speed and too many talented players on this team."
Ben Axon had 10 carries for 80 yards for Manatee, which rushed for 169 yards and passed for 238.
Carnes completed 9 of 13 passes for 212 yards, completing passes to seven receivers - four to Eric Williams for 48 yards.
Of course, the longest was to Sanders, who seemed to daze all 22 players on the play. Even the center McKenzie, who, at 6 feet, 225 pounds, followed Sanders all the way to the end zone.
"(Sanders) is running hard every down, so we have to chase him down," Williams said. "We're running 5.5 (40-yard dashes) and he's running 4.5's, so there's a big difference."
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