VENICE(7-1) AT MANATEE(7-0)
Last year Venice shut down the Hurricane offense in a 31-16 win that secured a playoff berth for the Indians, while Manatee was home for the playoffs. Two years ago, it was a 21-7 win by Venice that gave them a district title.
Manatee QB Brion Carnes has not had much success vs. Venice the last two years and that will need to change this year. The 'Canes received some good news when star RB Mike Blakely was cleared to play in this one, the talented junior joins Ace Sanders to form a potent play-making duo. WR Quentin Bundrage is averaging 17 yards per catch and has been the main beneficiary of Carnes impressive senior campaign(97-160, 1250 yards, 14/5).
Manatee started the season on fire, but have struggled some the past few weeks, they need to find their stride again offensively and eliminate some of the costly penalties and mistakes.
Venice will count on QB Trey Burton, RB Josh Boyle, and TE Beckett Wales. Burton is clearly one of the top running threats in the state(670 yards), but he has thrown for 1,305 yards with a 56% completion rate. Boyle has been a versatile play-maker with 381 yards on the ground and 411 receiving. Several backs will rotate in for the Indians. Wales (20-404) is a mismatch against both LB's and S's, he sports a number of D-1 offers.
Venice's DL has set the tone for the defense, Brandon Wilkinson, Dino Fanti, Clay Burton, and Amari Phillips are as good of quartet as anyone in the state. Venice lost their opener at Oscar Smith (VA), but have returned to Florida and looked as good as advertised, a big win over Charlotte two weeks ago was one of the top in-state wins in the state this year.
It is hard to pick against Venice in this one, the Indians seem to have Manatee's number and are playing their best football of the season.
Venice 27, Manatee 24
NAPLES(5-2) AT LEHIGH(3-4)
You can't draw up story lines any better than in this one. After struggling for a few years, Lehigh turned to Coach Pete Fominaya from the Naples staff, the Lightning started slowly as they adapted to his system (and training), but a huge comeback win over Lely set the table for a game for a playoff berth against his old team. That team, Naples, has been the area's top program this decade with two state titles, while it was a known rebuilding year for the Golden Eagle's, the standards they have set start with a playoff berth.
Naples loss to Lely in the Coconut Bowl put their back up against the wall last week vs. undefeated Barron Collier. They answered with flying colors, putting the Cougars away 27-3 in a must win game. They will need to have another strong week vs. a team that is playing their best football now and had a week off to prepare.
Lehigh's season turned around with the play of ATH Larry Overstreet, the RB turned QB has sparked an offense that is solid up front and has speed on the outside. WR Russell Barton made the big play late to beat Lely and he can run away from anyone. The defense has stiffened considerably, junior S Derek Wells is the top play-maker on that side of the ball.
Two QB's have played for Naples (Travis Carlyle and William Crook), both have put up similar numbers. The Golden Eagle's have gotten terrific years from two senior's: RB Chris Krieg (92-574) and WR Cameron Schlagel (30-378). The OL is coming together as expected and they always play tough, fundamentally sound defense....in fact it is a very under-rated defense, through 7 games they have given up 12, 25, 7, 0, 0, 12, and 3 points. The defense took an explosive Collier offense out of their game last week.
Even though the Lightning sit at under .500 on the year, things are clearly changing out at Lehigh. They are probably a year or two away, but this team has plenty of confidence. On the other hand, Naples is where every program tries to be, they are confident and expect to win every time out, the huge win last week showed the competitiveness of this program and they are stronger on both sides of the ball and special teams. Naples once again makes the playoffs.
Naples 24, Lehigh 14