Friday, July 30, 2010

Manatee's Mason earns national honor

Dave Mason, the assistant wrestling coach at Manatee, was named by Wrestling USA magazine as a runner-up to their Assistant Coach of the Year award.
"Very well deserved," said Hurricanes head coach Andy Gugliemini.
A two-time state champion at Bloomingdale Valrico, Mason helped the Canes to pair of runner-up finishes in the Class 2A state tournament in 2007 and '09. Manatee has crowned three individual state champions - Alex Doran, Andrew Fulk and Jacob Gregory - since Mason joined the team for the 2006-07 season, with Doran becoming Manatee's first freshman wrestler to win a state title.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Canes, Noles get kudos from football mag

Manatee and Southeast have earned praise from Friday Night Football Florida, a high school football magazine produced from flavarsity.com previewing the ensuing season.
Manatee is ranked fourth in the magazine's listing of the state's top 25 teams and first in the west coast region.
"Manatee is once again a state power," the magazine reads, "and has the talent and depth to compete for the Class 5A title this year."
Running back Mike Blakely, ranked ninth in the list of the state's top 10 running backs, was named to the All-West Coast team. Joining him are teammates Prince Matt (offensive line) and Quenton Bundrage(utility. Defensive lineman Quinton Pompey was ranked the ninth-best defensive tackle in the state
Manatee's defensive line was tabbed as the fourth-best in the state and the coaching staff was ranked fifth.
Southeast's linebacker Desmond Blue also made the squad All-West Coast team.
And the future appears bright for both teams - Southeast defensive back Brian Poole (24th) and defensive tackle DeAngelo Dawes (37th), along with Manatee linebacker Darius White (38th) and linebacker Clinton Heaven (41st) were named among the top 50 members of the class of 2012.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

FCA 7-on-7 tournament set for next week

The Gulf Coast FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) Air Attack, a 7-on-7 football tournament featuring seven area teams, has been scheduled for Tuesday at the Manatee PAL fields at 202 13th Ave. E.
Pool play begins at 8 a.m. and the championship game is scheduled for 1:45.
The 10-team field will be broken into two divisions - Faith (Southeast, Bradenton Christian, Cardinal Mooney, Tampa Wharton and Palmetto) and Service (Venice, Out-of-Door Academy, Bayshore, Tampa Middleton and Braden River).
The top two teams from each division advance to the semifinals, and consolation games will be played at 1 p.m.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Manatee 19th in ESPN Rise Fab 50

Manatee has been ranked 19th in ESPN Rise's Preseason Fab 50.
Its opponent for Aug. 27th's preseason classic, Tampa Plant, is ranked second.
The Manatee-Plant game, which will be broadcast live on ESPN from Hawkins Stadium, is part of the network's new ESPN Rise High School Football Kickoff. Aside from Bradenton, games will be broadcast live from Texas, Ohio, South Carolina and California.
Manatee running back Mike Blakely is ranked 116th in ESPNU's ranking of the nation's 150 best recruits. Plant linebacker and running back James Wilder Jr. is eighth.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Latronica headed to St. Pete Gibbs

Ron Latronica, an assistant football and boys soccer coach at Palmetto, is headed to St. Petersburg Gibbs to coach its boys soccer team. Latronica will also serve as the varsity team's offensive line coach and teach Spanish.
The move was facilitated by Raymond Woodie, who Latronica coached under at Palmetto and played for while Woodie was at Bayshore. Woodie is friends with Donnie Abraham, Gibbs' head football coach and former Tampa Bay Buccaneer, and helped set up an interview.
"It went well," said Latronica, who coached for 2 1/2 years at Palmetto and two more at Lakewood Ranch.
Aside from getting a chance to coach his own soccer program, Latronica was happy about his chance to get back in the classroom full time. After staring out as a Spanish teacher in '06, Latronica worked in Palmetto's media center part time last year and taught French 1 and 2 during the final quarter of the school year.
That being said, he said it wasn't easy leaving Palemtto.
"Palmetto grew on me," he said. "I really enjoyed the community and I have good friends there."

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Lakewood Ranch's Dilandro earns Wood Bat League honors

Phil Dilandro, a pitcher at Lakewood Ranch, was named pitcher of the week beginning June 28 in the IMG Wood Bat League.
Dilandro earned two wins while striking out nine and allowing two earned runs in 10 innings.