South Suncoast Week 7 Roundup: Manatee beats Lakewood Ranch in comeback win

Trying to get back to some semblance of normalcy has been the daily life over in the South Suncoast region as several schools are still being used as shelters due to the destruction caused by Hurricane Ian.

Schools also have been damaged by the storm like Charlotte, Port Charlotte, Lemon Bay, North Port and Venice. Each school is still assessing damages and working with their respective school district on the feasibility of returning to the field of play in athletics as a whole.

Manatee County wasn’t hit as nearly as bad, with many of schools were ready to resume action this past week after missing a week. National powerhouse IMG Academy didn’t play due to the cancellation of the Jones’ game. Venice, whom figures to be a contender for the Class 4A-Suburban state championship, could be out a couple more weeks.

Teams like Manatee and Parrish Community were itching to get back and continue their respective successful seasons to date. With good matchups like Lakewood Ranch-Manatee and Southeast-Parrish Community on the slate, football was back on the South Suncoast. We look back on the games, scores and a few top performances from the Friday night of action.

Week 7 South Suncoast scores

Friday

Manatee 35, Lakewood Ranch 23: Trailing 23-21 with under five minutes left in the third quarter, the Manatee Hurricanes knew they were going to have to buckle down defensively to defeat the Mustangs. Jacquez Green’s defense shutout Lakewood Ranch the rest of the way (16 minutes, 40 seconds) en route to improve to 5-1 on the season. Cory Sanders rushed for 184 yards and scored a touchdown in the win for Manatee. 

Southeast 14, Parrish Community 9: 4-0 on the year heading into the game against an 0-4 Southeast team, you can say Parrish Community might’ve had a little bit of an edge going in. That’s why they played the game, as the Seminoles held the Bulls to their lowest point total of the season and picked up win No. 1. 

Berkeley Prep 44, IMG Academy White 7: If the first quarter was a preview of how the game was going to go, many in attendance would’ve foresaw a battle between the Ascenders and Buccaneers. Instead, it ended up becoming a blowout. Berkeley Prep defensive end Keon Keeley had two tackles for loss and a sack in the Buccaneers’ win. 

Bishop Moore 50, Braden River 27: The Pirates came out flat and never recovered against a motivated Hornets team. Bishop Moore compiled 508 yards of offense, with over 300 coming on the ground en route to defeated Braden River. 

Out-of-Door 29, Bell Creek 16: In one of the best turnaround stories of the season, Out-of-Door continued its winning ways. After going a year from being winless at 0-5, the Thunder have surprised everyone and defeated Bell Creek to improve to 6-0 on the year. 

St. Petersburg Catholic 14, Saint Stephen’s 8: Going up against a winless Barons team and having two weeks off spelled a possible slight upset. St. Petersburg Catholic was able to notch its first win of the season over Saint Stephen’s.

Cambridge Christian 43, Bradenton Christian 0: Not playing for two weeks definitely showed for the Cougars and they fell to their largest deficit loss of the season to the Lancers. Bradenton Christian has lost four of its past five games.

Andy Villamarzo can be reached at andyvillamarzo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @Andy_Villamarzo.