The 7th Annual MaxPreps Football Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard brought us to sunny Bradenton, Florida, home of the Hurricanes of Manatee High School. Manatee's football team comes in at a No. 8 national ranking on the MaxPreps Freeman Rankings and is one of 50 schools out of 16,000 being honored by the Tour. Despite starting off to a rocky season after loosing two of their first three games, the hurricanes prevailed and crushed opponent First Coast of Jacksonville, Fl by an astonishing score of 40-0 to claim the 7A State Championship. Although this championship is the fifth state title for the school, it is the first in almost 20 years!
I arrived on campus around noon on Monday, January 30th to prepare for the 1:45 scheduled pep rally. I was escorted into Athletic Director and head coach's Joe Kinnan's office, where I was pleasantly greeted by the coach himself and directed out to the main courtyard where the ceremony would take place. As the students were dismissed from class, they began filing into the courtyard where the band kicked off the ceremony. Following the band, Principal Matthew Cane took the microphone to introduce the champion football team. Like a scene out of a movie, the doors behind the stage rolled up to reveal the 2011 team decked out in their new commemorative Tour of Champions t-shirts. The crowd erupted into cheers and applause for their winning team. Principal Cane then invited Florida Army National Guard Sergeant Matthew Wienczkowski up to the stage. Sergeant "ski" as he likes to be referred as, spoke about how he first learned of the Hurricanes accomplishments and successes both on and off the field. He then presented Coach Kinnan and the 2011 team the "minuteman" or the Army National Guard national ranking trophy, a symbol of excellence and dedication and a championship rafter banner to be hung in the school as a reminder for their achievements. Following the trophy presentation, the Mayor of Bradenton, FL, Wayne Poston read a proclamation once again congratulating the team and declared the day, January 30th, 2012 to be Hurricane Day in honor of the 2011 Varsity Football Team State Champions. The coach, principal, mayor and community all expressed their gratitude to MaxPreps and the Army National Guard for recognizing Manatee on this year's tour.
Congratulations to Head Coach Joe Kinnan and Manatee High School's new generation of Champions! Go Hurricanes!
