Prep football: Sandberg 3rd, Kinnan 6th in final voting

photo by Grant Jefferies

Manatee quarterback Cord Sandberg placed third in the balloting for Mr. Football and coach Joe Kinnan took sixth in the final Coach of the Year voting, according to results announced Monday by the Florida Dairy Farmers.
Named the Class 7A state player of the year for the second straight season, Sandberg earned three first-place votes for Mr. Football and tallied 104 points.
The winner was Yulee's Travis Henry, who earned 18 first-place votes and 221 points.
Glades Day's Kelvin Taylor was second (139 points).
The Alabama-bound Henry set single-season state records for rushing yards (4,261), carries (462) and touchdowns (55). He set the all-time national career rushing record this year with 12,212 yards, breaking the 59-year-old mark set by Ken Hall, who ran for 11,232 while playing for Sugar Land, Texas from 1950-53.
The last local player to be named Mr. Football was Southeast's Adrian McPherson in 2000. Manatee's Shevin Wiggins took home the honor in 1993.
Kinnan tallied one first-place vote and 63 points in the Coach of the Year running after winning the honors in Class 7A.
The overall winner was Tim Harris of Miami's Booker T. Washington. This year's Class 4A coach of the year, Harris led the Tornadoes to a 14-1 record and a state championship.
Harris piloted Booker T. Washington to its other state title in '07 before he spent three years as an assistant at Miami. He returned to the Tornadoes last year.
Southeast's Paul Maechtle (1993) is the only area coach to win the award.