Prep football: Bosco no longer Rivals' top team

Don Bosco Prep may have left Hawkins Stadium on Friday and returned to New Jersey with its winning streak still intact. But the Ironmen are no longer sitting atop the RivalsHigh100.

Bosco, which defeated Manatee 22-16 during the first game of Friday's Manatee Memorial Hospital Suncoast Challenge for its 37th-straight win, is now fifth in Rivals' latest rankings, which were unveiled this morning.

Allen High in Allen, Tx., is the new No.1.

"A game of tough sledding against Manatee last Friday proved enough evidence to move the team down," wrote Dallas Jackson, Rivals' senior analyst for high school sports, on Monday's rankings, "especially in a year when so many top schools have more impressive road wins."

Manatee led the Ironmen 10-9 with less than seven minutes remaining in the game.

The Hurricanes dropped three spots on Rivals' list and are now at No. 83 heading into the bye week.

When it came to Bosco, however, not everyone had a change of heart. The Ironmen are still No. 1 on ESPNRise's Powerade Fab 50 football rankings as well as MaxPreps' Xcellent 25.

Manatee is still ranked by ESPN, having dropped 20 spots to No. 39. And it appears the voters have taken Manatee's schedule into account: the Hurricanes are the only team on the list with two losses.

Prep football: MaxPreps says Hurricanes have fifth-toughest schedule

Manatee's difficult schedule has not gone unnoticed by MaxPreps, which ranked the Canes' fifth in its list of the top 10 most difficult schedules for 2011.

MaxPreps considered Our Lady of Good Counsel (Md.), Don Bosco Prep (N.J.) and Weston Cypress Bay as Manatee's most difficult opponents this year, and with good reason. Good Counsel and Don Bosco are national powerhouses, with Don Bosco ranked first in the nation by USA Today, ESPN and MaxPreps.

Cypress Bay reached the Class 6A state semifinals last year and is now in Class 8A.

Not mentioned was Manatee's list of tough local opponents, which includes Palmetto, Riverview and Southeast. And the Hurricanes also compete in Class 7A-District 10 with Venice, a postseason qualifier the last four years.

Manatee, which defeated Delray Beach American Heritage on Wednesday in a Kickoff Classic, opens the regular season Friday at Good Counsel, which is located in Olney, Md.

Prep football: No plans yet to televise Bosco-Manatee game

It doesn't appear that Manatee's game against New Jersey powerhouse Don Bosco Prep, scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16 as part of the Manatee Memorial Hospital Suncoast Challenge at Hawkins Stadium, will be shown on television.

"We had ESPN for both games, but the problem was they wanted to televise it at 5 and 8:30 (p.m.)," said Ken Halloy, president of Halloy Boy Sports Marketing, which is running the event. "Five was too early, and it was non-negotiable."

Halloy said there is a possibility of switching the Manatee-Bosco game to 8:30 p.m., and televising it.

But as of now, the times appear to be static, with Tampa Plant and Bergen Catholic, another Jersey team, set to follow Manatee-Bosco at 8:30 p.m.

"We're just so tight on crunch time right now," Halloy said following Thursday morning's press conference at Manatee Memorial Hospital. "We've got all these people traveling from New Jersey, and you don't want to disrupt their schedule. I think we're going to hold pat right now."

Halloy said Bright House Sports Network has expressed interest in broadcasting the games locally.

"We'll sit down and go over all the options. Manatee was going to be on ESPN, the second game was going to be on ESPN 2," Halloy said. "We just thought 5 o'clock, for people to get to the stadium, was just too early."

Prep football: Sept. 16 doubleheader at Hawkins has a name

(nj.com)

The doubeleader scheduled for Friday, Sept. 16 at Hawkins Stadium has a name - The Manatee Memorial Hospital Suncoast Challenge.

Manatee faces Don Bosco Prep (N.J.) and its coach, Greg Toal (above), at 6 p.m.

Another Jersey team, Bergen Catholic, faces Tampa Plant at 8:30 p.m.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 the day of the game, and discount opportunities will be announced soon.

All four coaches will be together for a press conference 11 a.m. Thursday in the Tower Lobby of Manatee Memorial Hospital, 206 Second St. East in Bradenton.

Prep football: Manatee sixth on Powerade Fab 50

Is Manatee the sixth-best football team in the country?

ESPNRISE thinks so. The Hurricanes are ranked No.6 in the Powerade Fab 50 ESPNHS Team Rankings, which were unveiled today.

"Thirteen starters return for head coach Joe Kinnan," Manatee's capsule reads, noting the Canes' lone loss last season came to Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas, which ESPNRISE annointed last year's prep national champion.

ESPN lists quarterback Cord Sandberg, linebacker Darius White and defensive back Clinton Heaven as the team's top returning starters, claiming that White and Heaven are a "formidable defensive foe."

The top-ranked team on ESPN's list? Don Bosco Prep, which heads to Bradenton on Sept. 16 to face Manatee.

The Canes were listed at No. 36 in the RivalsHigh 100 earlier this summer.

Other Florida teams making the list are Aquinas (No. 4), Seffner Armwood (No.9), Tallahassee Lincoln (No. 17), Cocoa (No. 24) and Miami Norland (No. 39).

Prep football: RivalsHigh ranks Manatee twice in list of top 25 out-of-state game

Both of Manatee's games against opponents outside Florida this fall made RivalsHigh's rankings of the top 25 interstate games.

The Canes' Sept. 16 game against visiting Don Bosco Prep (N.J.), ranked No. 1 in the nation by MaxPreps, placed ninth. And Manatee's season-opener at Our Lady of Good Counsel (Md.) made the list at No. 11.

"I think for 2011 and beyond, teams will have to schedule a minimum of one out-of-state game to be considered a national contender," Brian Hercules, owner of Hercules Sports Management LLC, told Dallas Jackson, RivalsHigh's senior analyst.

The Hurricanes played their first game against an out-of-state opponent last season against Woodland Hills, Pa. That game, coupled with a convincing win over Tampa Plant on a Kickoff Classic broadcast live on ESPN, kept Manatee ranked near the top of a number of national polls throughout the season.

Placing first on RivalsHigh's list, which was unveiled today, is the Sept. 23 game between De La Salle (Calif.) and host Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas.

Prep football: Times set for doubleheader at Hawkins Stadium

The times for the Sept. 16 doubleheader at Hawkins Stadium have been set.

Manatee will play New Jersey's Don Bosco Prep at 6 p.m. and Tampa Plant will face another Jersey team, Bergen Catholic, at 8:30 p.m.

Why are the homestanding Hurriances playing first?

"8:30 is past my bedtime," Canes coach Joe Kinnan said with a laugh.

The times may slide to later slots if the games land on television, Kinnan said.

That end of it is being handled by Halloy Boy Sports Marketing, which helped coordinate last year's Rally at The Wolvarena, a four-game showcase in Pennsylvania that featured Manatee.

Based out of Ramsey, the Bosco Prep Ironmen will begin the season ranked No. 1 in the nation by MaxPreps. They have won 35 straight games, 80 of 84 and five straight state titles.

"And with all that, this should be their crowning jewel," writes MaxPreps' Stephen Spiewak, "quite possibly their best team ever."

Spiewak writes the Ironmen, who return 14 starters, will be "next to impossible to pass on," so it will be interesting to watch them go up against Canes' quarterback Cord Sandberg.

Bosco's defense is anchored by cornerback Yuri Wright, ranked 40th on ESPNU's list of the top 150 players for the Class of 2012, and defensive end Darius Hamilton, who ESPNU ranks 67th.

Prep football: Doubleheader heading to Hawkins Stadium

A year after playing out of state for the first time in program history, Manatee's football team is playing host to a similar event this fall.
The Hurricanes host Don Bosco Prep, a national powerhouse out of New Jersey, on Friday, Sept. 16. After that game winds down, another Jersey heavyweight, Bergen Catholic, will face either Tampa Plant or Cocoa.
Kickoff is tentatively slated for 6 p.m. for the first game and around 9:15 p.m. for the second one, said Hurricanes head coach Joe Kinnan.
"If you want to be nationally ranked, you've got to play teams outside the state," Kinnan said. "That's what it comes down to."
Halloy Boy Sports Marketing is running the event, and the plan for is for the four teams to meet again in New York City in 2012.
Manatee became acquainted with Halloy Boy last fall, when the Canes' opened the 2010 season during a four-game, one-day affair in Woodland Hills, Pa.
Kinnan said whatever money made this season will be rolled over to finance next year's doubleheader, meaning none of the teams involved will make or lose any money.
"But it will be a great experience for the kids," Kinnan said.
The Bosco Prep Ironmen went 12-0 last season - defeating Bergen Catholic to win their fifth straight state title - and have won 35 straight games. They finished the year ranked seventh in the USA Today Super 25 and sixth in the RivalsHigh top 100.
The Canes were ranked 32nd by Rivals.
Bergen Catholic went 10-2 last year, losing both games to Bosco, and finished 59th in Rivals' rankings.
Cocoa won the Class 2A state title and finished 29th last year, while Tampa Plant reached the Class 5A state final.
As for the Hurricanes, their schedule will be full of challenges. The Canes open the season in Olney, Md. against Our Lady of Good Counsel, ranked 83rd by Rivals. Then comes Riverview, Bosco and Southeast.
"We're going to have a muderous first four games," Kinnan said, adding this schedule may be the team's most difficult.
In Week 7, the Canes host Class 6A state semifinalist Cypress Bay.
"We're going to see a lot of new people on our schedule, people we haven't seen before," said Kinnan, whose Canes have reached the state semifinals in four of the past six seasons. "It's going to be exciting."

Canes, Bosco Prep reach agreement

The Manatee Hurricanes signed a two-year home-and-home agreement Friday to play football against New Jersy powerhouse Don Bosco Prep, according to Manatee assistant Chris Conboy.
The teams were supposed to play this past season, but Bosco pulled out of the game in March.
This year, the teams went through an intermediary - Halloy Boy Sports Marketing, which coordinated September's Rally at The Wolvarena, a four-game event in Pennsylvania where the Canes opened the 2010 regular season.
Under the agreement, the Ironmen head to Bradenton in 2011, and the Canes go to New Jersey in 2012.
Conboy also said Manatee agreed in principle to travel to Olney, Md., to play Our Lady of Good Counsel in the fall.
Similar to last year's trip to Pittsburgh, these games will be financed by the team and sponsors, and will not come out of the school district's budget.
Check out Saturday's edition of The Bradenton Herald for more on this story.