Manatee (Bradenton) unleashes hurricane on No. 16 Buchholz (Gainesville) in upset victory

ALACHUA, Fla. – It was a homecoming of sorts for Manatee (Bradenton) head coach Jacquez Green, who became one of the top Florida Gators wide receivers under the legendary Steve Spurrier and made a return to Alachua County on Friday night to take on No. 16 Buchholz (Gainesville). The result was a 34-27 triumph victory for the visiting Hurricanes after coming off a 30-15 loss at Lowndes, Ga. the previous week.

On the other hand, it was a loss for the host Bobcats, playing on Raiders Field at Santa Fe High, that was marred by another slow start and uncharacteristic penalties that put Buchholz on the wrong side of the scoreboard for the first time this season.

Here are eight takeaways from the game:

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1. Manatee starts fast and furious

If you thought the Hurricanes were going to wait to gauge what the Bobcats might have on defense, they were already ahead of that curve having studied up on the first three weeks of the Bobcats’ wins over Vanguard (Ocala), Vero Beach, and Eastside (Gainesville). Manatee quickly put together a drive led by quarterback Andrew Heidel who eventually gave it off to Kei’shawn Smith for a 37-yard touchdown down the sideline to strike first and take a 7-0 lead.

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2. Slow start for Buchholz catches up

It was again another slow start for the Bobcats, and it was not until late in the second quarter that Buchholz found their way into the end zone with just under two minutes left before halftime when Jasiah Powell scored on a one-yard touchdown run with 1:57 to go to knot things up at 7-7. The fact it took that long to get first points could have been a potential sign that the firepower of the Bobcats was in trouble against a quality opponent that has put together a quality strength of schedule.

If it were not for a quick march down the field late after forcing a Manatee punt after the touchdown that resulted in Jay Giunta’s 18-yard field goal at the buzzer to take a 10-7 lead into the locker room, it would have been a tied game.

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3. Second half glow up for Buchholz doesn’t last

The slow starts in the first half by the Bobcats usually have been equalized by excellent outputs in the second half so far in this season. The game plan for the Bobcats was working easily as the Bobcats drove down the field, in part thanks to a huge 41-yard pass from Trace Johnson to Justin Williams that would eventually set up Giunta’s second field goal of the game, a 31-yard kick that would put the Bobcats up 13-7 with 9:39 left in the third quarter.

However, as quickly as Manatee got the ball back the Bobcats made sure the Hurricanes could do nothing with it. That quick three-and-out for Manatee would turn into more points for Buchholz and it would be one of the biggest positive plays for Johnson on the night when he found DJ Hicks for a 61-yard touchdown pass with 6:02 left in the third quarter that would put Buchholz up 20-7.

However, that two-possession lead would be all for not for the Bobcats as things would start to unravel leading us into the next takeaway.

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4. Penalties were uncharacteristic for Buchholz

If there was one thing that was off compared to last week, it was the number of penalties that the Bobcats had compared to what Manatee had. Unofficially, it appeared that Bucholz racked up 12 penalties compared to just five recorded unofficially for Manatee and that was a huge difference in the game. The Bobcats alone racked up over 40 yards in penalties on defense that included a defensive pass interference on Manatee’s second drive of the second half that resulted in Heidel punching it in from one yard out that would close the gap with 3:38 left making it 20-13 with the PAT failing.

“That is an embarrassing, embarrassing stat,” Buchholz coach Mark Whittemore said after the game. “I don’t know the exact numbers; I know it is double digits and that is what I told the team. That is on us, me, the coaching staff. Obviously, we have not prepared these kids for a football game like this evidently. We got squeezed tonight and what came out wasn’t real pretty.”

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5. Manatee takes advantage of the mistakes

Having started to get back into the game and the Hurricanes fired up on the sidelines after the previous touchdown, the defense went out and put the pressure on the Bobcats which resulted in a three-and-out possession. The firing up of Hurricanes players on the sideline and the lack of firing up from the Bobcats players on the sidelines late in the game was called out by Whittemore during his postgame speech with his team which irritated him immensely.  

With the ball back in hand, Manatee did not need much as Hield found Farrakhan Shannon downfield for a 72-yard touchdown that would tie the game up with 49.8 seconds left in the third quarter at 20-20.

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6. Fourth quarter pick six flips the game

What any quarterback in a high-pressured, high-quality game does not want to do is have six points scored going the opposite direction. But for Johnson, that is exactly what happened when linebacker Kavion Smith stepped right in the middle of the pass, most likely targeted for Williams, and returned it for a touchdown that would put Manatee up 27-20 with 8:56 left in the game.

From there Buchholz would struggle to figure out how to recover from the pick-six as they would punt again and Heidel was quick to make the Bobcats pay when he threw a 32-yard pass downfield that would result in a 41-yard blast by Kei’shawn Smith to make it 34-20 with 3:57 left.

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7. Late comeback falters for Buchholz

Comebacks can go one of two ways and for the Bobcats looked like they were potentially going to do just that and come back late, possibly looking at getting it to a position to force overtime as Johnson managed to find Williams for his biggest play of the night for an 89-yard touchdown pass that would cut the Hurricanes lead down to 34-27 with 2:33 left.

From there the onside kick did not go the way the Bobcats wanted it to go and while they got the stop they needed to get the back ball back with just roughly a minute and a half to go, Manatee knowing Buchholz had no times out left put Johnson in a situation in needing to get the ball down field quickly, made sure the Bobcats could do very little, flustering Johnson and getting the clock to run out to end the game.

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8. Tale of two teams in the eyes of the coaches

While Green was fired up after seeing his team win, for Whittemore you can tell he was certainly not happy with the output of his Bobcats and addressed the struggles Trace Johnson had at times.

If you go quarterback for quarterback versus all of the teams we play, he’s the one,” Whittemore said. “Quarterbacking is hard and Manatee had a really good plan. Quez’s crew [referring to head coach Jacquez Green] had a phenomenal plan really and it worked really well, especially there in the fourth quarter. They were able to keep us on our heels and we never were able to really get that momentum offensively.”

For Green, however, he doesn’t view the win as an upset for his Hurricanes.

 “We don’t think of it as an upset. We think we are just as good as any team in the state,” Green said after the win. “Just a matter of whichever Friday night, whichever team gets the breaks, and whichever team gets the most plays. In the first half their guys [referring to Buchholz] were making all the plays when they presented themselves. In the second half our guys made more plays when they presented themselves. Just got to eliminate big plays on defense. Defense is stingy upfront, teams can’t run the ball on us.”

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Player of the Game

Kavion Smith, Manatee

The 30-yard interception return for Manatee honestly was the play of the game and made Kavion Smith the player of the game the return completely changed the game and momentum that ultimately led the Hurricanes’ victory.

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Up Next

Manatee (3-1) returns home next week to host IMG Academy White (Bradenton) while Buchholz (3-1) looks to rebound on the road next week in Georgia taking on Richmond Hill.

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SCORING SUMMARY

                    1st   2nd   3rd   4th   OT   Total

Manatee    7     0    13  14  —  34

Buchholz   0    10   10 7  —  27

FIRST QUARTER

Manatee – Kei’shawn Smith 37 run (Owen Jones PAT), 9:16

SECOND QUARTER

Buchholz – Jasiah Powell 1 run (Jay Giunta PAT), 1:57

Buchholz – Giunta 18 kick, 0:00

THIRD QUARTER

Buchholz – Giunta 31 kick, 9:39

Buchholz – Trace Johnson 61 pass to DJ Hicks (Giunta PAT), 6:02

Manatee – Andrew Heidel 1 run (PAT failed), 3:38

Manatee – Heidel 72 pass to Farrakhan Shannon (Jones PAT), 0:49

FOURTH QUARTER

Manatee – Kavion Smith 30 interception return (Jones PAT), 8:56

Manatee – Kei’shawn Smith 41 run (Jones PAT), 3:57

Buchholz – Johnson 89 pass to Justin Williams (Guinta PAT), 2:33