BRADENTON — Welcome to Hurricane Country, where the No. 1 team in America stands no more.
Manatee scored one of the most impressive wins in its storied football history Friday night at Hawkins Stadium, knocking off Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas 28-20 in a Class 5A state semifinal.
Next stop for the Hurricanes — Orlando’s Citrus Bowl, where Manatee (13-1) will try to win its first state title since 1992 and fifth overall.
The Canes will take on Tampa Plant at 7 p.m. next Friday. The Panthers also scored an upset, dominating undefeated Lakeland 20-0.
A Miracle at Manatee?
Nope.
The Hurricanes simply outplayed the Raiders, the defending national champions, the two-time defending Class 5A state champions and winners of 37 games in a row.
Manatee was the better team in all phases of the game, buoyed by a neverending cavalcade of stars making one huge play after another.
There was Davian Evans, a senior defensive back who stepped in front of a pass from Aquinas quarterback Jacob Rudock and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter, giving Manatee a 21-7 lead.
There was Ace Sanders, a four-year starter playing his final football game in Bradenton, who scored two touchdowns, scored on a two-point conversion and fell on Aquinas’ onside kick with about two minutes remaining in the game.
He caught two passes for 93 yards.
There was Colby Lengel, converting two field goals. There was Mike Blakely, who ran for 78 yards and whose tireless running chewed up clock on Manatee’s final drive.
There was senior quarterback Brion Carnes, who, like Sanders, was playing his final game at Hawkins Stadium, hooking up with Sanders for a 40-yard score with to put Manatee up 15 points with 4:19 left.
And finally, there was the defense, which limited the Raiders (13-1), who averaged 44.6 points a game this season, to just 252 total yards of offense.
“This is a great, great feeling,” Manatee coach Joe Kinnan said. “The last time there was a No. 1 team here, we were, back in 1991, and we got beat. The No. 1 team goes down again at Hawkins Stadium, but it’s a reversal this year.”
Bedeviled by Aquinas in the 2005 and ’06 state semifinals, Manatee didn’t bend this time, even when the Raiders drew within 28-20 when Rudock hit Phillip Dorsett with a 25-yard touchdown pass with just more than two minutes remaining.
“We knew we had the athletes and the talent to play with them,” said Carnes, said threw for 178 yards and ran for 29.
“A lot of people didn’t think we were going to beat St. Thomas, so we wanted to prove everybody wrong. It was nothing but God that guided us and led us (Friday).”
Manatee’s offense intermingled a lot of small bites with a few big ones. The Hurricanes recovered when Aquinas fumbled a first-quarter punt, giving them the ball on St. Thomas’ 15. That led to a 27-yard field goal by Lengel.
But the Canes showed some explosiveness, too, including a 53-yard pass to Sanders that set up his 8-yard second quarter touchdown run that gave Manatee a 10-0 lead.
“They wanted to go press with no free safety, and we burned them a couple of times on it,” Kinnan said. “They’re not the No. 1 team in America for nothing — we knew we were going to have to peck and hunt and get what we can get, and if they’re going to do that, get in our face, we’ve got some guys who can run down the field.”
Nearly all of the 8,000 fans packed into Hawkins Stadium flooded the field following the game’s final play, waving flags, brandishing cameras and hugging everyone they could find.
“It feels real good,” Sanders said. “I asked for this game. Last game as a senior against the No. 1 team in the nation and we knock ’em off — it gets no better than that.”
It may. Manatee now looks to Tampa Plant, who the Hurricanes beat in the Kickoff Classic.
“We came out here as a team and we did it as one,” Carnes said. “I’m happy right now. I’m ready for practice on Monday.”
First, Kinnan wants his guys to revel in what they accomplished.
“Enjoy it this weekend,” he said. “We’ll get back to work and get ready to go.”