Noles, Tigers lose at Willie Clemons

Palmetto and Southeast lost in the semifinals of the Willie Clemons Classic on Tuesday at Southeast.

The Tigers fell 35-28 to Riverview in the semis of the Sunrise Division and the host Seminoles lost in double overtime to Seminole 52-50 in the semis of the Sunset Division.

Palmetto faces Lakeland Kathleen 1:30 p.m. Wednesday for the Sunrise's consolation title. Southeast meets Jupiter at 3 p.m. for the Sunset consolation championship.

The Rams meet Venice for the Sunrise Division championship at 4:30, and the Warriors play Tampa Catholic, the Class 3A defending champion, at 6 p.m. in the Sunset Division final.

Willie Clemons Classic - Sunrise results

Here are the results for the Sunrise Division of this morning's Willie Clemons Classic girls basketball tournament at Southeast.

Riverview 42, Lakewood Ranch 36
Palmetto 39, North Port 35
Venice 41, Braden River 31
Lakeland Kathleen 34, New Port Richey Mitchell 33

Tuesday's Sunrise Schedule
Semifinals — Riverview vs. Palmetto, 3 p.m.; Venice vs. Lakeland Kathleen, 4:30 p.m.
Consolation round — Lakewood Ranch vs. North Port, 9 a.m.; Braden River vs. New Port Richey Mitchell, 10:30 a.m.

Willie Clemons Classic schedule is here

Southeast will play host to the Willie Clemons Girls Holiday Basketball Classic, which runs from Dec. 27-29.
The 16-team tournament will once again be separated into Sunrise and Sunset brackets. The championship games are scheduled for Wednesday, with the Sunrise final slated for 4:30 p.m. and the Sunset one scheduled for 6 p.m.
Monday's first round matchups are listed below with area teams in bold.

SUNRISE BRACKET, 12/27
Lakewood Ranch vs. Riverview, 9 a.m.
Palmetto vs. North Port, 10:30 a.m.
Braden River vs. Venice, noon
Lakeland Kathleen vs. Mitchell, 1:30 p.m.

SUNSET BRACKET, 12/27
Tampa Catholic vs. Englewood Lemon Bay, 3 p.m.
Manatee vs. Jupiter, 4:30 p.m.
Southeast vs. Dunedin, 6 p.m.
Charlotte vs. Seminole, 7:30 p.m.

Smoothie King Classic schedule is here

(logo from wikipedia)

Bradenton Christian's Smoothie King Classic, a 16-team girls and boys basketball tournament, runs from Dec. 28 to Dec. 30 at BCS.
Each team is guaranteed three games. The finals will be played Thursday, with the girls championship slated for 6:30 p.m. and the boys scheduled to go at 8 p.m.
The Panthers won the girls and boys tournaments last year.
Here are the first-round matchups with the area teams in bold.

GIRLS, 12/28
Bayshore vs. Crystal River, 12:30 p.m.
Tampa Alonso vs. Arcadia DeSoto, 3:30 p.m.
Hawthorne vs. Seven River Christian, 6:30 p.m.
Cardinal Mooney vs. Bradenton Christian, 8 p.m.

BOYS, 12/28
Palmetto vs. Braden River, 11 a.m.
Lakewood Ranch vs. Gulf, 2 p.m.
Bayshore vs. Pinellas Park, 5 p.m.
Ilion, N.Y. vs. Bradenton Christian, 9:30 p.m.

Manatee finishes 32nd in Rivals poll; 26th by ESPN

(Map from backreaction.blogspot.com)

Manatee finished the season ranked 32nd in the nation in the RivalsHigh 100.
"The Hurricane season ended with a disappointing loss in its Class 5A semifinal to St. Thomas Aquinas," reads the capsule. "Injuries derailed what could have been, but the season was still very good for a team that entered with a lot of question marks."
The Hurricanes, who were ranked 43rd entering the week, finished 13-1.
ESPNRise, which ranked Manatee as high as second for most of the year, placed them at No. 26 in its final poll.
Aquinas, which defeated Tampa Plant on Friday in the Class 5A state final to win the program's sixth state championship, is Rivals' national runner-up.
Aquinas was ranked first, however, by ESPNRise
South Panola, located in Batesville, Mississippi, finished the year ranked first by Rivals and USA Today, which ranked Aquinas third.
Manatee finished out of USA Today's final top 25 rankings.

Conboy Award gaining cred

The Tony Conboy award has only been in existence three years. But it is gaining quite the pedigree.
Named after Tony Conboy, a longtime local sports writer for The Herald before he passed away in 2008, the award is handed out annually to Manatee County's best senior football player as voted by coaches, media and a member of the community.
This year it went to Mike Blakely (above), Manatee's running back who is headed to Florida.
Last year's winner, Manatee quarterback Brion Carnes, signed with Nebraska.
And the first player to win the award, Palmetto defensive back Kedric Johnson in '08, went to Florida.
That's three awards for three players who each went to BCS conference schools. In other words, next year's winner, whomever it may be, will find himself in good company.
And that's the mark of a good award.

Manatee plummets in ESPNRise

Manatee's loss to Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas on Friday dropped the Hurricanes 30 spots in the ESPNRise rankings.

Slotted at No.2 for most of the fall, the Hurricanes are now 32. The Raiders, who defeated Manatee 31-7 in a Class 5A state semifinal and play for the state title Friday against defending champion Tampa Plant, are second, jetting up three spots.

Plant, which lost to Manatee in a preseason Kickoff Classic broadcast live on ESPN, is 47th after entering the week unranked. The Panthers rolled through Lakeland, 48-6, in Friday's other semifinal and are looking for their third straight state championship and fourth in five years.

PAL Bowl slated for Jan. 14

(Image from Facebook)



The 19th Brad Price Memorial PAL Bowl, pitting the best senior football players from Manatee County against their counterparts from Sarasota, is slated for 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 14 at Lakewood Ranch.



Listed below are the area rosters:

Bayshore - Tim Finklea, FB/LB; Nick Blackwell, LB; Mike Lintz, OL; Nick Lucey, OL; Wendell Williamson, OL;.
Braden River - Dipo Kolawale, RB/WR: Javier Baity, RB/TE; Keith Grafton, LB; Dakota Wilson, OL/DL; Dillon Romine, OL; Kadin Kerns,K.
Bradenton Christian - R.J. Schooler, RB; Sean McCarthy, QB/DB; Austin Dumas, K/P.
Lakewood Ranch - Reggie Lindsey, QB/WR; Taryn Laws, RB; Anthony Asay, DB; Harrison Skokos, RB; Josh Nauman, OL; Daniel Clifford, WR; Will Pilkington, TE.
Manatee - Chris Pompey, DL; Mike Blakely, RB; Quenton Bundrage, WR; Brandon Kull, TE; Nick Galati, OL; Prince Matt, OL; Will Beasley, OL; Drakkar Wilson, DL; Quinton Pompey, DL.
Palmetto - Chris Calloway, DB; Melvin Burston, QB; Marquis Green, RB/DB; Shaquille Mays, DB; Joey Dunlap, OL; Jadarian Smith, OL.
Saint Stephen's - Cole Misztak, LB; Jeremy Perron, QB.
Southeast - Bo Brand, WR; Dyron Speight, QB; Calvin Williams, DB; Jared Williams, RB; Reggie White, LB; Terran Williams, LB; Cameron Cox, OL/DL; Patrick Broder, OL.

SARASOTA COUNTY
Cardinal Mooney - Alex Nugent, QB/DB; Peter Lange, C/DL; Mike Howard, OL; Cesar Yalul, TE/DE.
Out-of-Door Academy - Ryan Kaminski, LB/TE; Jake Siciliano, LB/TE; Jordan Burr, OL/DL; Chris Ragone, WR/DB.

FHSAA announces new tentative football districts

(Logo from wikipedia)

The Florida High School Athletic Association released the district football alignments for the 2011 and '12 school years.

These are tentative, and schools have until Friday, Jan. 7 to file an appeal.

The FHSAA will announce reclassifications for its other sports Monday.

Listed below are the district involving local teams:

Class 7A-District 10 (population 1,926-2,300)

Braden River, Manatee, Sarasota and Venice

Class 6A-District 10 (pop. 1,581-1925)

Lakewood Ranch, Palmetto, Bartow, Winter Haven, Lakeland Kathleen, Lakeland Lake Gibson

Class 5A-District 10 (pop. 1,100-1,580)

Bayshore, Southeast, Arcadia DeSoto, Englewood Lemon Bay, Wauchula Hardee

Class 3A-District 6 (pop. 281-690)

Cardinal Mooney, Fort Meade, Frostproof, Lakeland Christian

Class 2A Urban-District 6 (pop. 47-280)

Bradenton Christian, Out-of-Door Academy, Saint Stephen's, Community School of Naples, Fort Myers Evangelical Christian, Moore Haven, Naples First Baptist, Naples St. John Neumann, Southwest Florida Christian.

Manatee vs. Aquinas, Part IV

(Aquinas logo from aquinasfootball.com)

For the fourth time since 2005, Manatee and Ft. Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas will duke it out in a Class 5A state semifinal.
The two teams, both 13-0 and ranked No.1 and 2, respectively, in Class 5A, meet 7:30 p.m. Friday at Brian Piccolo Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.
Here is a list of the previous three meetings:
2009: Manatee 28, St. Thomas Aquinas 20
2006: St. Thomas Aquinas 36, Manatee 29, 2 OT
2005: St. Thomas Aquinas 45, Manatee 17

The winner faces either Lakeland or Tampa Plant for the Class 5A state championship Dec. 17 at the Florida Citrus Bowl.