Hurricanes Fall to Top-Ranked Don Bosco Prep

Manatee High took on the No. 1-ranked high school football team in the nation Friday night at Hawkins Stadium and did not back down from the challenge.

The Hurricanes fell behind early, bounced back and held on to keep the game within one score for most of the night against Don Bosco Prep (2-0) before falling 22-16 to the New Jersey prep powerhouse.

The game was part of the Manatee Memorial Hospital Suncoast Challenge, a doubleheader that pitted two New Jersey teams against two of Florida's best. Tampa Plant beat Bergen Catholic 12-7 in the second game.

Hurricanes junior Anthony Lauro worked his tail off, hauling in eight catches for more than 70 yards and toting the rock seven times for about 25 yards and a touchdown.

"I come out to play," Lauro said. "If they happen to throw it to me, that's great, we needed it. This was still a good game for us; we can build on this."

That is two heartbreakers the Hurricanes (1-2) have suffered this year at the hands of out-of-state teams — including a season-opening, double-overtime loss to Our Lady of Good Counsel in Olney, MD — yet they remain steadfast.

"We've got to get a little better," Manatee coach Joe Kinnan said. "You can't make the mistakes that we made in the kicking game, and you can't make mistakes offensively."

The Hurricanes were plagued by high snaps on several punts Friday. It finally caught up with them in the fourth quarter, when the snap went over senior punter Nick Tankersley's head, and Don Bosco took over at Manatee's 6-yard line. Sophomore Jabrill Peppers ran it in from there for the Ironmen's second touchdown in just two minutes.

On the previous Bosco drive, senior Leonte Caroo hauled in a deep pass from senior Mike Yankovich to make it 15-10 Bosco after Manatee had led for most of the third quarter.

Both teams were sluggish in the early going. Five possessions went by without either team getting a first down. Finally, Don Bosco pulled a fake punt to get to the Manatee 31-yard line, when Peppers ran it in for the first score of the game. They missed the extra point for a 6-0 Bosco lead.

Manatee equalized on an Lauro run from nine yards out, and the extra point gave them a 7-6 advantage going into halftime.

The Canes came up big in the first pressure spot of the game, stopping Don Bosco on a 3rd-and-eight deep in their own end. They held Bosco to a field goal that gave the Ironmen a 9-7 lead.

Manatee would later answer with a 27-yard field goal of its own by Tankersley with 11:07 left in the fourth quarter to make it 10-9 Hurricanes.

The Ironmen kept trying to get the ball to Carroo, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior, deep down the sideline but were shut down by the Hurricanes defensive backs until the fourth quarter, when Yankovich found Carroo for a 63-yard touchdown. The botched Manatee punt followed shortly thereafter, and Don Bosco had dealt what would be the knockout blow to Manatee.

But the Hurricanes still had some punches to throw.

Down 22-10 with under five minutes left, the Hurricanes put together a 76-yard drive that culminated in a Cord Sanberg's touchdown pass to senior Austin Gordon's in the back of the end zone. The missed two-point conversion made it 22-16, but the drive chewed up too much time.

With the clock down to 1:14, the Canes had to go for the onside kick and were denied. It took one kneel down from Yankovich to wrap the game for the Ironmen, who extend their winning streak to 37 games.

The Hurricanes have a much-needed week off before they face rival Southeast on Sept. 30.

"I'm proud of my guys, they kept pressing, playing hard," said Don Bosco head coach Greg Toal. "We finally broke them in the fourth quarter. They're a good team, they fought hard."

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