Booker, Fordham propel Manatee past Tampa Alonso, 69-20

Relying on a smash-and-dash backfield combination, along with a stingy defense that forced two turnovers, Manatee High rolled to one of the most-lopsided wins in the program’s storied history with Thursday night’s 69-20 win at Class 8A-District 6 rival Tampa Alonso.

Senior running back Josh Booker powered his way to 136 rushing yards and three touchdowns to lead the Hurricanes (2-1, 2-0).

“You’ve got to put your shoulders down and run straight through people and they’ll never want to tackle you again,” said Booker, who still counts a 298-yard, four-touchdown game as a sophomore against Sarasota Booker as his most productive output.

Added Manatee coach Yusuf Shakir: “(Booker) did a good job running the ball hard and did a great job being physical.”

Not to be outdone, Keyon Fordham, fresh off last week’s five-touchdown game against Lutz Steinbrenner, gained a game-high 149 yards with three touchdowns. The sophomore quarterback said he was motivated by Booker’s running.

“It’s motivation, basically,” Fordham said. “When (Booker) scores, I try to score.”

Manatee led 28-12 at halftime and broke it open with 28 points in the third quarter. That gave the Hurricanes an insurmountable 56-20 lead and led to a running clock for the fourth quarter.

In that third quarter, Booker got things started with a 46-yard touchdown run, his third of the game. Fordham followed with touchdown runs of 54, 35 and 16 yards on three consecutive carries.

Manatee also got scoring runs of 12 and 48 yards from Napoleon Harris and Travon Joseph, respectively, and backup quarterback Ryan O’Neill finished off the scoring with a 1-yard plunge as time expired.

Defensively, the Hurricanes stymied a one-dimensional Ravens attack by allowing just 28 rushing yards and forcing two turnovers. Earac Washington scooped up a fumble by Alonso quarterback Harold Cook and scored from 9 yards out. Later, Brandon Dossey intercepted a pass from Cook that was tipped by Alonso running back Scyler Boykin.

One area Shakir would like to shore up is the secondary after Cook passed for 158 yards and three touchdowns. Cyle Kurina had nine catches for 126 yards for Alonso (1-3, 0-2).

This story was originally published September 28, 2017 at 11:04 PM with the headline "Booker, Fordham propel Manatee past Tampa Alonso, 69-20."