Manatee's Kavious Price, Southeast's Kevin Johnson know what hangs in the balance in rivalry game

BRADENTON -- When Kavious Price and Kevin Johnson were teammates with the Manatee Mustangs, they always wanted the same thing.

They still feel that way, but only one will get what they want when Manatee plays host to Southeast in their long-standing rivalry Friday night.

Price wants to finish his high school career without a loss to Southeast. Johnson wants to get a win and end the Noles' eight-game losing streak to their longtime nemesis.

Both should have a big say in the game's outcome, just as they did when they were playing for the Mustangs -- but in a different way. Price was still a dual-threat player then, but Johnson was an offensive lineman.

"Kevin was a guard who blocked for me then," Price says with a smile. "We were about 13 years old when we last played together. Now, he's grown up a lot, and obviously is one of Southeast's impact players."

It might be safe to say Johnson is more than an impact player for the Seminoles. He leads Manatee County in rushing with 1,313 yards, and is the only player with more than 200 carries.

"I grew up with KP, and I'm friends with just about everybody on Manatee,"

Johnson said, "The kids I grew up with tended to want to go to a winning school. I'm more of a person who enjoys tradition, and I love the Seminoles. I love the Southeast logo."

There will be no friendships between the lines on this night, according to Price.

"For us seniors, thirty years from now we're going to remember our last regular season home game, and we're looking to dominate," Price said.

Manatee has won eight straight in this rivalry after Southeast won 12 of the previous 14, and the Canes lead the series all-time, 19-14. Johnson says no one expects the Seminoles to win, but he and his teammates are used to that.

"I think one team just pulled away from the other. But I've been watching this rivalry for a long time, and I think the game means more to us. This is the biggest game we are going to play this year (regular season)," Johnson said.

One person keenly aware of Johnson is Manatee head coach John Booth, who enjoyed this rivalry as a player with the Canes.

"I played in the 2000 game and for us old guys, this is still the big one," Booth said. "They got us my senior year over there with Adrian McPherson and I certainly don't want to lose this game. There are people in our community who don't go to games, but will be at this one. There are lot of families that grew up on this rivalry."

With Southeast getting a big win over Booker last week to qualify for the postseason, Noles head coach John Warren calls this the perfect game for his kids.

"If we were playing someone else a week before the playoffs, it would be hard to get our kids up," Warren said. "This is a blessing on both ends. Now we have our biggest rivals at their place and we want nothing more than to go there and knock them off for the first time in almost 10 years."

Manatee (7-2) has a prolific offense with lots of depth, particularly in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Southeast (5-4) might be going through a resurgence in winning five of six and qualifying for the postseason, but it doesn't have depth -- and its offense is overly dependent on Johnson.

Warren said Johnson will start at quarterback. He did so last week against Booker, but switched to running back in the second half and ran for 188 yards after the intermission. He is also every impressed with Manatee quarterback A.J. Colagiovanni, who leads the county in passing.

"We are trying to dial up some read options for Kevin at quarterback. He can throw pretty good and gives us our best chance to win at that position," Warren said. "A.J. puts the ball wherever he wants, and his offensive line gives him a ton of time to throw. He is faster than he looks and runs the ball well. He is a triple-threat kind of quarterback."

This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 11:14 PM with the headline "Manatee's Kavious Price, Southeast's Kevin Johnson know what hangs in the balance in rivalry game."