The Manatee High School football team travelled to Valdosta, Georgia on Friday, September 5th. Following a major win against Southeast High School the week before, the team gathered on a bus for their four-hour trek to Georgia. 

Nerves were running rampant throughout the aisles of the school’s bus, quietly permeating the air with tension. Based on an interview with Coral Sheridan, a Manatee High School senior who rode with the team to film the game, the bus ride there was “pretty quiet,” because of the “nervous” energy. 

Sheridan described the atmosphere of the ride up as “pretty chill,” despite the quiet, as if the players were preparing for an intense game. This, of course, was not unfounded, as Lowndes High School is the number 15 team in the state of Georgia, with a 10-2 average. This game would be no easy feat. 

The expectation of the team prior to the game was, as Zyaire Green put it in an interview with Cane News, “to elevate ourselves.” With this goal in mind, one can only imagine the kind of internal pressure the team had within them.  

The Canes fought all the way to the end, but unfortunately, the team couldn’t pull out a win against a powerhouse like the Lowndes Vikings. In the fourth quarter, Mason Summer, one of the MHS quarterbacks, scored a touchdown that brought MHS’ score from zero to seven. 

Coral Sheridan describes this moment as a highlight of the game, stating that it was, “an amazing catch.” Sheridan also believes that the sheer amount of people who showed up was eye-catching in its own right. 

This touchdown, while incredible, was not enough to secure a win for the Hurricanes though. The final score was 42:7 in the Vikings’ favor. 

Despite the loss, the Manatee Hurricanes football team has learned to persevere through struggles and fully intend to work even harder to be the best team that they can be.