Palmetto aims to ‘finish’ this time against rival Manatee

The message is clear: finish.

That’s what Palmetto High head football coach Dave Marino preached to his Tigers during the offseason and for this week’s opponent, the Manatee Hurricanes.

This is the last time Palmetto’s experienced senior class gets a chance to beat rival Manatee, which has owned the series that dates to 1915.

Finishing was the culprit in the previous two installments of the annual Green Bridge War game between teams divided by the Manatee River.

Manatee’s last two victories against Palmetto were by a combined five points.

“We have to play a complete game,” Marino said. “Last year, our offense was not there. The year before that, we scored 35 points and it wasn’t enough because we lose 36-35. ... We have to play a complete game: special teams, offensively and defensively. And finish for 48 minutes. We were up nine points with two minutes ... two and some change (in 2015) and you lose by one. How does that happen? You’ve got to finish.”

Manatee holds a 30-10-3 series advantage.

The last time Palmetto beat Manatee, the players taking the field this Friday night at Palmetto’s Harllee Stadium weren’t in high school, middle school or even elementary school.

The oldest players were just 4 years old when the Tigers defeated the Canes in 2004 as part of back-to-back victories during the Howie DeCristofaro era, which was sandwiched in between legendary Canes coach Joe Kinnan’s two stints on the sideline.

“Once I got to high school, that’s when I really found out about the rivalry,” Palmetto senior defensive back Sidney Pompey Jr. said.

Added quarterback Anthony Marino: “This is going to be a big game.”

The emotionally charged game saw Harllee Stadium rocking on both sides when Nick Null delivered a 37-yard field goal in the closing seconds to lift Manatee to a one-point victory in 2015.

Last season, Josh Booker’s fake punt set up Manatee’s lone touchdown in a 7-3 victory after Hurricane Hermine postponed the game to Labor Day.

The close calls are similar to when Dave Marino was an assistant at Southeast High in the early 1990s.

Manatee controlled the series before the Seminoles got over the hump and the floodgates opened with Southeast winning 12 of 14 meetings between 1992 and 2006. The 2004 meeting was postponed because of weather and not rescheduled.

But during Kinnan’s return to the sidelines, the tradition-rich Canes dominated county opponents. They haven’t lost to a county program since 2006, when Southeast defeated them.

“The tradition speaks for itself,” Marino said. “They are, no doubt, the gold standard in Manatee County. Can’t argue that.”

Regardless of what happens Friday, though, this year’s game will also serve a greater purpose.

Palmetto assistant coach Matt Braselton saw the devastating flooding in Houston from Hurricane Harvey and decided to organize a canned goods drive for the victims.

Donations from anyone attending Friday’s game will get collected with bins from junior varsity players greeting fans at the gates. The canned goods will get sent to Houston to help with the relief effort for Hurricane Harvey flood victims there.

“I just thought that was another way to teach our kids a way to get involved and do a civic duty to help others,” Braselton said. “Because there’s kids out there that look like our kids, that play like our kids and are putting the time in like our kids, and now their football season is ruined. Forget football. Their lives are temporarily ruined.

“So the best way we can help is ... we can at least grab a can out of our cupboard and donate. Whether you’re rich or whether you’re poor, someone has a spare can of corn, of tuna or something that will help those people.”

This story was originally published August 30, 2017 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Palmetto aims to ‘finish’ this time against rival Manatee."