Palmetto jumps out to early 21-0 lead before lightning delay; other news from Tampa Bay area

PALMETTO, Fla. – One of Manatee County’s oldest rivalry game will have to until Saturday morning to see a conclusion in its 2017 edition.

Due to lightning, the athletic directors of Manatee and Palmetto High Schools made the decision to finish the annual rivalry game on Saturday at 10 a.m., still to be played at Palmetto.

The Tigers lead 21-0 at the time of the stoppage, which occurred with 3:56 to play in the second quarter. Manatee will get the ball rolling on offense tomorrow morning.

To that point, Palmetto controlled the momentum throughout the first quarter and a half, as RB Elijah Davis took over on the first drive. He had 62 yards on just eight rushes in a quarter and a half and had some tough rushes on the evening. Davis scored from five yards away on the opening Tiger drive.

Davis would set up a one-yard quarterback sneak from Anthony Marino early in the second, putting Palmetto up 14-0.

Special teams errors and short punts gave the Tigers excellent field position throughout the evening, which was taken advantage of by Johnny Jones, who took a first-down play 30-yards to give Palmetto a commanding lead before the lightning delay.

For the Hurricanes, RB Joshua Booker took a lot of contact but powered through the Tiger defense for some nice rushes. WR Javarius Pollock showed some nice moves and turned a couple of small short receptions into longer gains.

Friday marked the second straight week where Manatee’s game was compromised because of rain. The Hurricanes’ matchup against Lakeland was cancelled after heavy rain and lightning at Joe Kinnan Stadium in Bradenton last Friday.

Friday also marked the second straight year the rivalry game was postponed due to rain. The Tigers and Hurricanes played the full game on Labor Day last year after it was called before kickoff.

FloridaHSFootball.com will not have coverage of the rest of the game – fans can catch updates through the Bradenton Herald and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune on its website or Twitter pages.

OTHER NOTES FROM TAMPA BAY:

• Wiregrass Ranch (Wesley Chapel) silenced its counterparts on SR-54 in Pasco County, defeating Wesley Chapel 14-7 in the ‘War on 54.’ Penn State-commit Jordan Miner ran a 56-yard touchdown to give the Bulls the advantage. Two big stars for Wesley Chapel went down: Oregon-commit Isaiah Bolden and star RB Dexter Leverette, according to the Tampa Bay Times’ Darek Sharp.
• The other big game in Pasco – Mitchell (New Port Richey) against River Ridge (New Port Richey), went in favor of the Mustangs, who won 14-3.
• Cambridge Christian (Tampa) completed a home-and-home sweep against Twiggs County (GA), by winning 35-8. The Lancers are once again 2-0, and have won both games by a combined 66 points.
• Jesuit (Tampa) fell to nationally ranked St. Joseph’s Prep (PA), 22-7. Both games have been defensive battles. Friday marked the first 0-2 start for the Tigers in head coach Matt Thompson’s five-year career.
• Playing in their second game this week, Chamberlain (Tampa) hung 50 points on Bloomingdale (Valrico) to start 2-0 and win their tenth straight regular season game dating back to last year. QB Tyler Riddell compiled 326 yards passing with six total touchdowns in the win, both single school records.
• A number of Polk County games have been postponed until Monday, including Bartow vs. George Jenkins (Lakeland), and Lake Wales vs. Okeechobee. Lake Gibson (Lakeland) vs. Kathleen (Lakeland) will play at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.