BRADENTON
The Manatee-Venice football rivalry is half of what it used to be. At least it was for one night, anyway.
The Hurricanes and Indians played the first half of a spring jamboree Friday night at Hawkins Stadium, with Manatee winning 17-0 in the teams’ only meeting of the year.
Manatee lost to Lakeland 28-21 during the final half of the night but the Indians ended on a good note with a 10-7 win over the Dreadnaughts, clinching it on Zach Carr’s 24-yard field goal with 2.1 seconds remaining.
Each team played a half with two 12-minute quarters, and there were 15-minute breaks in between the halves.
"It was a really good spring for us," said Manatee head coach John Booth. "We graduated some two- and three-year starters and we needed guys to step in and fill those roles. And I thought we did that."
The Hurricanes and Indians engaged in a scoreless first quarter before Manatee took control with a pair of big plays, one on defense and another on offense.
A.J. Colagiovanni, who has won the battle to be Manatee's next starting quarterback, took all the snaps Friday and hit Tarique Milton for a 44-yard touchdown pass with 8:07 remaining in the second half. It was a bit of a retribution for Milton, who dropped a pass on third down with the ’Canes on Venice’s 29.
Nick Null was next. Manatee’s placeckicker who has received an offer from Syracuse, Null booted a 44-yard field goal less than five minutes later. His 46-yard attempt in the first quarter went wide right.
The dagger came courtesy of Manatee defensive back Jacob Main, who returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown with 1:10 to go.
After resting during the Indians-Dreadnaughts game, Manatee returned for the finale against Lakeland and got a huge lift from Kavious Price, a rising senior fresh off helping the Hurricanes’ 400-meter relay team win a state title.
Price peeled off an 80- yard touchdown run at the 9:04 mark of the first quarter to tie the game at 7. And after Lakeland jumped ahead 14-7, Price struck again, scoring from 65 yards out.
"We were able to get him the ball and he made a few guys miss on the perimeter," Booth said. "I thought the blocking was great, and I thought our O-line did a great job being physical."
Manatee took a 21-14 lead courtesy of Paul Mobley, who scooped a Lakeland fumble and returned it 17 yards with 11:19 remaining in the game.
But Lakeland pulled even on James Robinson’s 38-yard reception from Holden Hotchkiss with 2:19 left.
The Hurricanes got to Lakeland’s 4 on their final drive but fumbled the ball away with 29 seconds left, and Robinson and Hotchkiss hooked up for a 14-yard touchdown pass with just over three seconds remaining.
"We've got things on both sides of the ball we need to clean up, much like everybody at this time of year," Booth said. "It's kind of bittersweet because I thought we played well throughout both games, especially against Lakeland. And to not be able to finish it off, it's tough."
It was a sloppy half against Manatee for the Indians, who had to recover three fumbles on bad center-quarterback exchanges, and had three sloppy snaps on punt attempts.
But coach John Peacock was happy with how his team bounced back against Lakeland.
“Promise you, this is the last time I say it: we’re so young,” he said. “But we grew up (Friday). We made a lot of mistakes that first half . . . just stuff that’s out of character and very sloppy. I thought they did a good job of coming back and playing Venice football.”
The Indians’ defense played well against the Dreadnaughts, with Sage Lee and Christian Van Der Meer snaring interceptions, and Van Der Meer accounting for a huge stop when Lakeland was facing a 4th-and-2 from Venice’s 26. And Lakeland’s lone points came on a 79-yard punt return by Tariq Young.
The big offensive play came on Venice’s final drive when quarterback Bryce Carpenter hit tight end Aaron Hackett for a 12-yard completion with the Indians facing 4th-and-6 from Lakeland’s 38 with a little over two minutes remaining.
Hackett had four catches on the night and Carpenter threw for 103 yards.
“Hackett’s been having a great spring,” Peacock said. “And I thought Bryce had his best night.
“You couldn’t ask for better — we learned some great things that first game that you can’t do in a football game. . . . A lot of good things, a lot of bad things. We’re going to be all right — I promise you that.”
