What to know about Manatee County high school football teams 1 month into the season

We’re approaching the one-month mark in the 2023 high school football season.

While plenty of the season is left, with teams yet to begin district games, it’s time to take a look at what we’ve learned so far.

Here is a look at the teams and players across Manatee County so far:

Class 4S-District 13

The Manatee Hurricanes are off to the best start in the county. The Hurricanes are flexing their strength on defense, while riding a balanced offense to become the last remaining undefeated public school in the county.

The Canes have limited opponents’ ground game and used their solid secondary to disrupt passing attacks.

Senior defensive lineman Tyreek’e Robinson, who has offers from Miami, USC and Auburn to name a few, anchors the line play that includes juniors Alvoid Kennon and Ean Johnson-Kelley. FIU commit Raheim Sexil is one of the Canes’ key defensive backs.

As a team, the Canes have 44 tackles for loss, 15 quarterback hurries, seven sacks, four interceptions, 19 passes defended, seven fumble recoveries and a blocked extra point.

All roads are converging to a showdown at Venice on Oct. 6 and a potential district title game with Palmetto on Oct. 27.

Palmetto Tigers head coach Rashad West is no stranger to the district. Last year, he led Lakewood Ranch. Palmetto appears the likely challenger to Manatee as the district’s top team.

The Tigers boast a high-scoring offense through three games. Last week, they ran for 410 yards. Yes, 410 yards. And they had six rushing touchdowns. On Sept. 8, the Tigers relied on the aerial game with 274 passing yards and three touchdowns.

They’ve scored 32, 42 and 49 points in three games, with the 42 point effort going for a loss at Sarasota Riverview.

Senior running back Davaughn Thomas is leading the ground game with 129 rushing yards per game and seven touchdowns.

The Tigers’ key stretch of games begins Oct. 13 with their district opener against Lakewood Ranch followed by Venice and Manatee. They can’t overlook the Mustangs before traveling to Venice and facing the Canes at home.

The Mustangs, under first-year head coach Scott Paravicini, battled Braden River two weeks ago into the fourth quarter but didn’t notch their first win until last week at IMG Academy Blue.

Their defense was lights out with nine tackles for loss, two sacks, six passes defended and two interceptions. They’ve improved steadily each week and will need to continue to match the high-powered Palmetto offense and stout Manatee defense during district play.

Class 3S-District 13

Braden River was handed its first loss at Manatee last week, but did not quit after falling behind 21-6. Rather, the Pirates dug in, emptied their playbook and scored a late touchdown to make it a 28-20 game.

In the loss, the Pirates struggled to run the football. They were limited to 87 rushing yards against Manatee’s formidable defensive line.

But it was a good test for Braden River before district action opens with trips to two 3-1 clubs, Port Charlotte on Sept. 29 and Parrish Community on Oct. 13.

The Pirates, who were run heavy in two wins, will need Yashua Edwards and Marcus Galloway to rack up the yards with solid offensive line play in their first district game against Port Charlotte.

Edwards has 221 rushing yards in three games, while Galloway has 204 rushing yards in the Pirates’ balanced time-share backfield.

Parrish Community turned away unbeaten Bayshore two weeks ago with a blistering passing offense. Jackson Volz had a mind-boggling quarterback rating of 164.3 when he threw four touchdowns and only two incompletions in the 63-22 win. Last week, the Bulls improved to 3-1 with a forfeited win over Avon Park.

Parrish faces Southeast to open district play Sept. 29. The Seminoles, meanwhile, are the fourth team in Class 3S-District 13 and are off to a woeful start.

The Noles program is tradition rich, but this year is a rebuilding season so far. They’re 0-4 and have been outscored 192-39.

Meanwhile, Bayshore plays in Class 2S-District 15 with undefeated Englewood Lemon Bay and Sarasota Booker. After the blowout loss to Parrish, the Bruins (2-1) will need to find their early season form, where they scored 104 points in two wins when they begin district action against the Booker Tornadoes on Sept. 29.

Private schools

Bradenton Christian and Saint Stephen’s are off to fast starts in the Sunshine Athletic Conference, and the two Bradenton rival private schools meet this week at BCS for bragging rights.

The two teams are a combined 5-2, with the Falcons’ Evan Brown wreaking havoc with his legs and arm in Saint Stephen’s offense and Colton Dempsey pacing the Panthers’ offense with 99.7 rushing yards per game.

And at IMG Academy, the Ascenders boast blue-chip recruits all over the place on their National team. They’re ranked No. 3 in the nation behind Santa Ana, California’s Mater Dei and Las Vegas, Nevada’s Bishop Gorman in the race for the mythical national championship.

IMG’s White team is also undefeated, while the Blue team has yet to pick up a win this year.