Hurricanes to Visit D.C. Area for Football Opener

It’s not quite the South vs. the North, but Manatee’s High's opening football game against Olney, Md. Good Council Sept. 2 does not figure to be civil.

The Canes will travel to the Baltimore-Washington D.C. area with the No. 6 ranking in the ESPN Fab 50 high school football rankings. They’ll face No. 20 Good Council, a returning conference champion.

“We’re representing the whole state,” Manatee High coach Joe Kinnan said. That’s big. Every school in the state is going to be looking at what we do.”

Manatee was 13-1 last year, having lost to Class 5A state champion St. Thomas Aquinas in the state semifinal. Good Council likely will be keying on Hurricanes’ 6-foot-3, 205-pound quarterback Cord Sandberg, regarded in the ESPN rankings as one of the top junior quarterbacks in the nation.

“And we’ll be playing a nationally-ranked team so it will be great competition,” Kinnan said. “Plus it will be an educational experience in the nation’s capital.”

Manatee will fly to Baltimore Sept. 1 and will return Sept. 3 after an afternoon of sight-seeing. The players’ families, boosters and fans will have a secured “Fan Room Block” at the Holiday Inn.

“It just takes us away from being home,” Manatee wide receiver Jajuan Pollock said. “There’s definitely some tough teams up north. There’s some bigger athletes up here. The guys can be big down here and they have speed.”

Even assistant coaches such as secondary coach Tracy Sanders look forward to seeing the naiton’s capital and playing unknown competition.

“I haven’t been there before,” Sanders said. “And looking at film they look to be a real, real good football team.”  

Kinnan said the team is not using tax payers’ money to cover the trip expenses.

“We’re using money from gate receipts and fundraisers,” Kinnan said.

The team is scheduled to travel to New York City for next year’s opener.