Early season defensive woes have made Manatee stronger says head coach John Booth

Manatee High School is banking on the old cliché that adversity builds strength.

After starting 1-2 against three football teams with one loss among them, the Hurricanes believe they have some chips to cash in.

“Battle tested would be a key phrase for us,” Manatee head coach John Booth said. “Those were pretty good football teams we played in pretty adverse situations. It enabled us to learn about ourselves and set us up for district play.”

The two losses were lopsided. Hewitt-Trussville (Ala) scorched Manatee for 78 points and Venice scored 42.

The Canes are going for their eighth consecutive district title and 30th overall. They opened 8A-6 play two weeks ago with a 44-0 trouncing of Tampa Alonso and on Friday play host to last year’s district runner-up, Lutz Steinbrenner.

“The biggest thing for us is that we haven’t been consistent on both sides of the ball,” Booth said. “It was good to come back and put a complete game together. We held Alonso to 18 yards rushing, which was a good response coming off the Venice game. And we were able to move the ball effectively.”

Josh Booker, the Canes’ leading rusher, will suit up after sitting out nearly two games with an ankle injury. In his absence, Keyon Fordham stepped up.

“Keyon gives us a nice change of pace. He is not as powerful as Josh, but he has some explosiveness and his ability to make guys miss is pretty good. Josh is huge for us with his running and ability to block,” Booth said.

Manatee defeated Steinbrenner 52-17 last year, but the game was competitive until the second half. Quarterback A.J. Colagiovanni threw for 300-plus yards and three touchdowns.

The Warriors like to throw the ball and will challenge the Canes’ secondary, which hasn’t been tested since the Hewitt-Trussville game. The Canes know they have a target on their back since they went undefeated in district play last year.

“Everybody is gunning for us, and we will get everybody’s best shot, but our goal is to win every district game to set us up for the best case scenario in the postseason,” Booth said. “Steinbrenner hit us early with some deep balls last year and their quarterback is back, so we have to be ready, particularly in the secondary.”

One of the problems for Manatee on defense has been taking care of gap responsibility. With eight underclassmen usually starting, part of that can be attributed to the youth.

Linebacker Garrett Ware has been the most solid player on defense. The inside linebacker on the Canes 3-4 alignment, leads the team with 42 total tackles and 32 solos.

“At the beginning of the season, we had a few focus issues, but now I think everybody is focused on playing for December instead of September,” Ware said. “Maybe sometimes people were trying to do too much, but the last game we just went back to our base defense. We just went out there and played instead of trying to do all this crazy stuff.”

Senior linebacker Jacob Main is second on the team with 24 tackles (all solos). The return of Will Ivey, who missed the first couple of games due to offseason ACL surgery, has been a big boost. The senior can be used at linebacker and defensive end.

“We are anticipating returning eight starters on defense. When you are young like that you have a tendency to get yourself out of position and (at times) we have blitzed ourselves out of position,” Booth said. “A guy blitzes and another guy has to respond and take over that gap, and we weren’t doing that. We will still bring pressure, but use the old cliché keep it simple and let our guys use their athletic ability.”

The two teams that beat Manatee are putting up tons of points. Hewitt-Trussville (Ala) (6-0) is averaging 48.3 points and Venice (4-0) is averaging 52. Manatee traveled to Alabama for Trussville and played Venice on only three days rest. It may have contributed in part to the lopsided losses.

“It was a good learning experience. We put our kids in an uncomfortable situation and saw how they responded. But I think it’s all about preparation Monday through Thursday,” defensive coordinator Chad Choate said. “Last year, we were a senior-laden defense, and I think the kids grasped things a little bit quicker. Now with a younger group we as a staff said maybe we should scale back and make things simpler and that has helped.”

This story was originally published September 28, 2016 at 6:52 PM with the headline "Early season defensive woes have made Manatee stronger says head coach John Booth."