Lakewood Ranch athletes announce intentions

Multiple Lakewood Ranch High football players announced their intentions to play college football at NCAA Division III schools next season: Chad Rex and Brendan Hadley (Adrian College, Mich), T.J. Davis (North Carolina Wesleyan) and Max Vonderhofen (Carroll University, Wisconsin. Also Jordan Bezet announced he would play for NAIA Southeastern University in Lakeland.
Others announcing their intentions were golfer Spencer Schulz (Jacksonville) soccer players Maria Miller (St. Leo), Schmid Payen (Kings College) and Jake Dube (Midland University, Ne).

 

District Softball Tournament schedule

District Softball Schedule:

All games at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted

 8A-8

Tuesday

#3 Manatee at #2 Sarasota Riverview

#4 St. Petersburg at #1 Palm Harbor

Thursday

Final at higher seed

 

7A-10

Monday

#5 North Port at #4 Braden River

Tuesday

BRiver-NP winner at #1 Lakewood Ranch

#3 Sarasota at #2 Palmetto

Thursday

Final at higher seed

 

5A-10

Monday

#5 St. Petersburg Gibbs at #4 Southeast

Tuesday

SEast-Gibbs winner at #1 Boca Ciega, 4 pm

#3 Bayshore at #2 St. Petersburg Lakewood

Thursday

Final at higher seed; Game at 4 pm if at Boca Ciega

 

3A-11

Tuesday

#2 Saint Stephens at #1 1 Bradenton Christian, 4:30 p.m. (championship)

 

 

 

 

Palmetto's Jordan Smith earns All Tournament honors

Palmetto High product Jordan Smith earned All-Tournament honors in helping Benedict College win the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference post season basketball tournament last week.

The 6-4 guard was at his best in Benedict’s 60-58 semifinal round victory over Morehouse College when he scored a team high 20 points in draining six of 12 attempts from beyond the arc.

Smith scored 18 points in the Tigers quarterfinal victory when canned 4 of 9 three-point attempts in an 82-78 victory. He averaged 12.8 points in Benedict’s four SIAC tournament games.

Benedict College (19-11) will be in Lakeland Saturday to face Florida Southern (29-1) in an NCAA Division II South Region game.

The three day region tournament will be at Florida Southern, which is the top ranked team in NCAA Division II men’s basketball. The eight regional champions advance to the quarterfinals for the 2015 NCAA Division II Men's Elite Eight at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.

 

Manatee has five signees; Saint Stephens' Knopfke plans to sign with Boston College

Manatee High expects to have five players sign college football scholarships on Wednesday, the first day high school athletes are allowed to sign letters of intent for the 2015 collegiate season.
Manatee’s standout receiver Kelvin McKnight has committed to Samford, an FCS school in Alabama that recently hired Chris Hatcher to be its new head coach.

Hatcher, who was head coach at Murray State, replaces Pat Sullivan, former Heisman Trophy winner at Auburn.

Hatcher brings an up-tempo offense that ranked second in the nation last year (FCS) in passing averaging 327 yards per game. Murray State was 3-9 last season but averaged 36.6 points per game. Unfortunately its defense gave up 42 points per game.

Safety Antonio Henderson, who had 67 solo tackles last season, has committed to Carson-Newman, a Division II school in Tennessee. Other commitments are Zach Staton (Warner-Southern), Jamarion McDonald (Nebraska-Kearney) and Joe Robinson (New Mexico Military.

The signings will be Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the high school auditorium.

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Saint Stephens offensive lineman Wyatt Knopfke has verbally committed to Boston College and plans to sign with the Eagles. The 6-2, 265 pounder Rivals. Com three star recruit reportedly had offers from Miami and Kentucky. He has been recruited by Todd Fitch, former USF offensive coordinator.

 Braden River receiver Justin Ross plans to sign with Northeast Oklahoma Community College. Southeast and Lakewood Ranch do not have any signings planned for Wednesday though there might be some in the future.

 

 

 

Boys Basketball District Tournament Schedule

 

Boys District Basketball Schedule:

All games at 7 pm unless otherwise noted

 

Class 8A-8

Wed:

#3Manatee at #2 St. Petersburg

#4 Palm Harbor at #1 Riverview (Sarasota)

Friday

Final at home of higher seed

 

Class 7A-10

Mon:

#5 Sarasota at #4 Braden River

Wed:

BRiver-Sar

 winner at #1 Lakewood Ranch

#3 Palmetto at #2 North Port

Friday:

Final at home of higher seed

 

Class 5A-10

Tues:

#5 Bayshore at #4 Boca Ciega

Wed:

#3 Southeast at #2 St. Petersburg Lakewood

Bayshore-BC winner at #1 St. Pete Gibbs

Friday

Final at home of higher seed

 

Class 3A-10

All games at Out-Of-Door-Academy

Tues:

#2 Bradenton Christian vs #3 ODA 5 pm

#1 Cardinal Mooney vs #4 Saint Stephens

Friday:

Championship game