De La Salle wins virtual national championship

(Photo from dlshs.org)

De La Salle, out of Concordia, Calif., has won the high school national football championship.
Well, sort of.
The Spartans defeated South Panola (Batesville, Miss.) 24-10 in the finals of the Massey Virtual National Championship.
(I'm not a big fan of these things, as you can see here.)
De La Salle and South Panola were part of the 64-team field vying for the virtual national title in the tournament's first year.
On the field, the Spartans were impressive. They went 14-0 and throttled Servite, 48-8, to win the California Independent Federation state championship.
In a funny twist, the Spartans finished second in USA Today's Super 25 behind No. 1 South Panola, which went 15-0 and won Mississippi's Class 6A state title this year.
So what are the chances of the Spartans and Tigers playing an actual game next season?
"Our schedules are done pretty far in advance," De La Salle's athletic director, Leo Lopoz, told USA Today. "Obviously, our history shows we'll play anybody. But it's a matter of timing."
Lance Pogue, who doubles as South Panola's football coach and athletic director, echoed the sentiment, telling the newspaper they'd play a game if it fit in with the rest of the schedule.
"We will play anybody, but we never have had a lot of interest in playing outside of the South because there's so many good teams here," he said. "We might be in the market for one game on Sept. 16."

Rankings don't rattle Kinnan

Armed with a 3-0 start and a convincing win over Tampa Plant in a Kickoff Classic, Manatee finds itself on a number of national prep football polls.
It just doesn't find itself in the same place on any of them.
The Hurricanes are ranked second by ESPN Rise and fifth by USA Today - but 33rd by Rivals.com.
None of this means much to coach Joe Kinnan, however.
"I don't even know what we are," he said. "You just keep winning, and it just takes care of itself at the end."
Rankings mean little when it comes to what happens on a Friday night. Just ask the Canes, who were unranked heading into last year's Class 5A state final four and defeated Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas, ranked No.1 in the nation at the time.
"You go 15-0, and it will take care of itself. You don't, and you're not a top-10 team," Kinnan said. "If you can't win 15 games, you probably don't deserve to be in the top 10."
Manatee was idle last week and hosts Lakewood Ranch on Friday before beginning Class 5A-District 10 play Oct.8 against visiting Sarasota. The Hurricanes are still a bit banged up - defensive back Clinton Heaven (jaw) and wide receiver Anthony Lauro (knee) will not play Friday - but district play is what they are working toward, especially since Manatee hasn't won a district title since 2006.
"We broke this season down into a preseason, where we've got some really good people that we're going to play against," Kinnan said. "This is the district season. We've got to prepare ourselves."

Manatee rise on ESPN, USA Today polls, dip on Maxpreps

Manatee's 56-36 on Friday over Palmetto was enough to impress ESPN RISE and USA Today - but didn't have a similar effect on the folks at Maxpreps.
The Hurricanes hopped a spot to No. 2 on ESPN RISE's Fab 50, putting them behind only Trinity out of Euless, Texas. Manatee has 243 points to 250 for Trinity, which received first-place votes from all five of the poll's panelists.
Manatee also moved up a spot in USA Today's Super 25, sitting at No.4.
Maxpreps, however, had a different opinion, bumping the Canes down two spots to No.5 on its Xcellent 25.
According to Maxpreps, Manatee's star fell a bit in part because Woodland Hills, Pa., which the Canes defeated at home in Week 1, fell to 0-2 Friday.
Manatee takes a 2-0 record into Friday's rivalry game with 2-0 Southeast.