Clewiston High School junior Rocco Mann is this week’s Big Lake Athlete of the Week for his performance with the Tiger varsity football team.

Mann helped lead the Tigers to their first victory this season, with a 14-8 win over the Okeechobee Brahmans on Sept. 4.  Mann threw two touchdown passes against the Okeechobee defense which helped new head coach Pablo Sanchez secure his first win after taking over the reigns of the program this year.

Clewiston got on the scoreboard first against Okeechobee when Mann connected with MJ Pope to put the Tigers up 7-0 before halftime. In the third quarter the Brahman defense responded by grabbing an interception from Mann, with Okeechobee’s Armani Jenkins returning it for a touchdown. Okeechobee went for two and successfully converted it to take an 8-7 lead over Clewiston.

But Mann proved his resilience by shaking off the interception and connecting with Fabian Moody on a 27-yard touchdown pass to retake the lead 14-8.

The Tiger defense managed to limit an Okeechobee offense that put up back-to-back games of 40-plus points to open the season.

If you have someone you’d like to nominate for Big Lake Athlete of the Week, email Lake Okeechobee News sports reporter Richard Marion at rmarion@iniusa.org.