Prep football: What others are saying about Manatee-Good Counsel

(photo by Preston Keres)

Friday's game between Manatee and host Our Lady Good Counsel brought out over 4,000 fans and tons of media to Kline Stadium.

USA Today wrote how the game's final spot was "right on the 25-yard line", while Good Counsel coach Bob Milloy told The Washington Post he was "very sorry" the game ended the way that it did. Milloy added that the Falcons' all-world receiver, Stefon Diggs, called the play that resulted in Good Counsel's game-winning touchdown that sealed a 24-17 victory in double overtime.

Prep football: Saturday morning in Laurel

OK, so I snapped this photo Friday night at Dancel Field. But I still get a kick out of seeing fresh fruit served at a prep football game. And for just $1!

Anyway, it's about 8:40 a.m., and the Hurricanes are heading back to their rooms after having breakfast. They are heading out at about 9:30 a.m. to take a tour of Washington, D.C., which according to MapQuest, is less than 30 miles from the hotel in Laurel.

Their flight back is slated to leave Baltimore-Washington International Airport at 3:30 and land in Tampa at 5:45.

Curious to see where Mantee sits in the national rankings following Friday's game. The Hurricanes dropped 39 spots in the RivalsHigh 100 after WINNING their Kickoff Classic against Delray Beach American Heritage, so even though they took a tough national power to double overtime on the road, don't be surprised to see them unranked in some polls heading into next Friday's game with Riverview.

Prep football: Manatee-Good Counsel makes MaxPreps' list; Good Counsel the favorite

(photo by John Lembo)

Manatee's game tonight in Olney, Md., against Our Lady of Good Counsel has made the list of MaxPreps' top 10 high school football games of the week.

Most of the site's writers are picking Good Counsel, ranked 15th in MaxPreps' Xcellent 25, to hand the Canes their first Week 1 loss since 2006 (Southeast).

Listed below are the predictions:

Mitch Stephens: Manatee, 21-20

Steve Montoya: Good Counsel, 27-14

Stephen Spiewak: Good Counsel, 21-17

Kevin Askeland: Good Counsel, 28-21

James DeMoney: Good Counsel, 24-10

Prep football: Big crowd expected for Manatee-Good Counsel game

(photo by Dan Whelan at olgchs.org)

A crowd of possibly 6,000 is expected for Manatee's season-opener Friday at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Olney, Md.

"We're excited," said Good Counsel athletic director Mark Jankovitz.

Both teams are ranked nationally - the rankings vary depending on what poll you study - and the game has caught the attention of USA Today, which plans on sending a writer, Jankovitz said.

"We've had college coaches and scouts calling us about coming out," Jankovitz said, "from as far out as the West Coast."

Good Counsel has won back-to-back Washington Catholic Athletic Conference Championships and begins the season ranked first in the Washington Post's top 20.

Friday's game kicks off at 7 p.m.

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: Manatee's Week 1 opponent ranked 54th in nation

(photo from washingtonpost.com)Our Lady of Good Counsel, which plays host to Manatee on Sept. 2 in Olney, Md., is ranked 54th on the RivalsHigh 100 countdown.
Led by receiver Stefon Diggs, No. 7 in the picture above, the Falcons jumped 29 spots after finishing last year ranked No. 83 by Rivals.
According to the Rivals' write-up, Good Counsel features 15 players with Division I offers, including Diggs, who is being courted by over 30 schools. The 6-foot-1 senior earned a five-star ranking from Rivals, which also lists him second in the nation among receivers graduating in 2012.
The Falcons went 10-2 last season.
Rivals began unveiling its rankings 10 per day July 25, and will list 50-46 and 45-41 today.
No area schools have cracked the list yet.

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.

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.