A roundup of Southwest Florida high school football games played Thursday, Oct. 18 and Friday, Oct. 18.
Rankings: After Hurricane Milton, who’s atop The News-Press/Naples Daily News football power rankings?
THURSDAY
Cypress Lake 34, Island Coast 22
Things couldn’t have started much worse for the host Panthers in Thursday’s District 3A-13 showdown against the Gators.
Cypress Lake lost a fumble on its first offensive play, gift-wrapping a touchdown for Island Coast less than a minute into the game.
The message on the Panthers’ sidelines from head coach Joey Mendes? Just keep playing.
“It’s football; you’re going to have mistakes,” he said. “You’ve just got to move on.”
Cypress Lake did just that and took full advantage of Island Coast’s mistakes. The Panthers scored 24 points off of five Island Coast turnovers, including two interception returns for touchdowns.
With the victory, Cypress Lake (3-5, 2-0) took a huge step toward securing its first district championship since 2019.
Senior Chartrael Jenkins scored on a pair of short touchdown runs for the Panthers and added an interception. Senior quarterback Zeke Dube-Garrett passed for 122 yards and one score in the victory.
Senior running back Gervaris Leaphart rushed 32 times for 159 yards and three touchdowns for the Gators.
Island Coast takeaways
1. Turnovers too much to overcome. Wearing down the Panthers’ defense behind a steady diet of punishing Leaphart runs looked to be the Gators’ offensive formula at the game’s outset. Indeed, Island Coast ran 35 plays in the opening half, compared to just 23 for Cypress Lake. But the Panthers held an 18-14 lead at the break, thanks in part to sophomore Kamarien McKay’s 65-yard interception return for a touchdown. The Gators committed three more turnovers in the second half, derailing their comeback attempt.
2. Leaphart was a workhorse. The 5-foot-9, 180-pound running back punished Cypress Lake defenders all game, constantly churning through tacklers for an extra yard or two.
“He’s got a lot of heart; you can just tell that he does,” Mendes said of Leaphart. “He’s so hard to tackle. He’s got a low center of gravity and he just keeps moving his feet. He did a really good job tonight.”
3. Island Coast kept coming. Trailing by 20 points midway through the third quarter, it would have been easy for the Gators to pack it in. But a 31-yard touchdown run by Leaphart and a fourth-down stop in their own territory gave Island Coast life. The Gators put together their best offensive drive of the game, marching 75 yards in 10 plays. But Cypress Lake came up with a fourth-down stand of its own, stopping Leaphart two yards shy of a first down.
“It was a battle tonight from beginning to end,” Island Coast coach Tyran Jones said. “They played a great game tonight and capitalized on our mistakes.”
Cypress Lake takeaways
1. Defense made game-changing plays. Island Coast grabbed some momentum at the end of the first half with Leaphart scoring on a 3-yard run with 11.5 seconds remaining to trim its deficit to four points. The Gators got the ball first to start the third quarter but any hopes they harbored of regaining the lead quickly dissolved thanks to Wilkens Samedi. The senior defensive back stepped in front of a Dominik Rosado pass and scored on a 16-yard return, putting the Panthers back up by 10 points.
“Our secondary really stepped up tonight,” Mendes said.
2. Joey Dube-Garrett played mistake-free. On a night when swirling winds were a factor, the 6-foot-5 senior quarterback made strong and accurate throws when it mattered. More importantly, he avoided the turnovers that proved fatal for Island Coast. Cypress Lake finished the game with just one, the fumble on its first offensive play.
3. Panthers control their own postseason destiny. With a win at Lemon Bay next week, Cypress Lake will secure its first playoff appearance since the COVID year of 2020 and first district championship since 2019. The Panthers could also clinch the district this week, provided Estero knocks off the Manta Rays Friday night.
― Dan DeLuca
St. John Neumann 19, SFCA 8
St. John Neumann’s rushing duo of Jake Bruni and Carson Floyd led the way in an impressive victory against SFCA.
St. John Neumann’s defense began the game hot as they forced SFCA into a pair of three-and-outs on the team’s opening two drives. This allowed the Celtics offense to take control of the game early.
Kicker Eugene Quindlen captured the Celtics’ first points of the game on a 33-yard field goal on their opening drive after the offense was stopped at the King’s 16-yard line.
They followed this up on the next drive with Bruni, as he knocked down defenders to punch in a 20-yard rushing touchdown to close the first quarter.
The King’s (4-2) struggled on the offensive side of the ball with the loss of starting running back Lawson Polhill to injury in the first half. This stalled out the ground game as they had to rely on an inexperienced backfield to fill his role.
Wide receiver Logan Bartelt scored St. John Neumann’s final touchdown of the game to close the half with a 43-yard reception.
The shutout continued into the second half as a one-sided game from the Celtics (5-1) became a shootout between both defenses.
Quindlen took St. John Neumann’s final points of the night four minutes into the fourth quarter with a 30-yard field goal. This score put the Celtics up by three possessions.
SFCA scored its first touchdown of the night in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter. Wide receiver Brendan Siter caught a 16-yard touchdown with fellow wide receiver Brady Moore catching the two-point conversion.
“We knew that this was a playoff game, in terms of where the two teams were, where we stand in the playoff race,” St. John Neumann coach Rich Crosby said. “It’s a big football game. That’s a playoff atmosphere. So, I was just happy with the fight and the competitiveness and resiliency.”
SFCA Takeaways
1. Passing offense needs to be sharper. Quarterback Austin Hill struggled for consistency throughout the night as he went 18 of 32 for 64 yards, one touchdown, one interception and a fumble. Presented with multiple scoring opportunities, Hill either overthrew his wide receivers or saw them drop balls.
“We got to scheme a little better,” SFCA coach Roy Stabler said. “Offensively we just could not get our moment.”
2. Unnecessary penalties. Multiple penalties set the King’s back whenever they had the momentum. They were flagged for two personal foul penalties, offsides, unnecessary roughness and multiple false starts through 48 minutes.
3. A first half to forget. Through the first half, SFCA struggled on both sides of the ball allowing the Celtics to go up two scores through the first two quarters. They were able to fix these issues in the second half outscoring St. John Neumann 8-3 but its early troubles ended up being the difference.
“We didn’t play SFCA football; we started out flat,” Stabler said. “So just got to get back in our groove, man. And you know, the things that we did in those first six games, we gotta get back to doing it well.”
St. John Neumann takeaways
1. A dominant rushing duo. Running backs Bruni and Floyd were the backbone of the Celtics’ offense as they combined for 133 yards and a touchdown. Dealing with a tough Kings’ defensive line they were able to truck through hits and constant pressure for positive gains.
“I mean, a little thunder, a little lightning,” Crosby said. “Jake came off such a great year last year as a quarterback, and we put him in the backfield this year for us to run the ball and use them that way. But I mean, they’re both seniors, and they’re both highly competitive kids.”
2. Logan Bartelt is a dual threat. Bartelt was all over the football no matter what side of the field he was on. The two-way player had an interception and multiple defenses passes in the secondary along with 105 receiving yards, including a 43-yard touchdown at wide receiver.
3. Defense making big plays. On multiple occasions, the St. John Neumann’s defense stepped up when it mattered the most. These stops include multiple broken-up passes, a 20-yard fumble recovery by defensive lineman Brendan Joyce, an interception by Bartelt and a 13-yard sack by defensive lineman Jordan Peralez, which forced the King’s out of the red zone.
― Jeffrey Hrunka
Palmetto Ridge 56, IMG Academy Blue 0
IMG Blue received the message early and often from Palmetto Ridge back Devon Messenger — the Bears had come to dominate.
On the game’s opening play, freshman quarterback Jayden Cowgill flipped a shovel pass to Messenger who raced 66 yards to the end zone just 22 seconds into the game.
The Ascenders appeared ready to respond when Max Jewett ran 25 yards on a reverse to put IMG Blue in Palmetto Ridge territory.
Then the wheels came off. Marshall McCollum fumbled and the Bears were quick to take advantage.
Steven Rosseau took a handoff on the very next play, sprinting 76 yards for a touchdown. A Josiah Brumaire two-point conversion gave Palmetto Ridge a 14-0 lead.
The Ascenders Kaie Theeke nearly broke the next play from scrimmage for a touchdown, running 41 yards to give IMG Blue great field position at the Bears’ 26.
Then Messenger struck again, ripping the ball from Theeke’s arms and running 70 yards for another Palmetto Ridge touchdown and the rout was on.
“We started out hot which has always been our kind of thing that we haven’t been able to do this year and we came out with a little bit of a fire and actually showed up at the start,” Bears coach Zach Yates said.
Palmetto Ridge takeaways
1. Freshman quarterback Jayden Cowgill played well beyond his years. Cowgill hit all five of his passes for 127 yards. Cowgill didn’t have to throw much thanks to a strong running game which saw the Bears roll up 284 yards on the ground.
“He’s growing right before our eyes,” Yates said. “There’s not a lot of guys playing varsity football at 14 years old.”
2. The Bears defense worked hard for the shutout. Palmetto Ridge forced four IMG Blue turnovers including one for a touchdown. The defensive line did its part as well with three quarterback sacks. IMG Blue managed only 83 yards on the ground and 57 yards in the air.
“We’ve just been trying to eliminate the mistakes because we’ve had a lot of young guys playing,” Yates said. “A lot of guys are beginning to mature.”
3. Messenger delivered. The do-everything player did just about everything. The first two times he touched the ball he scored touchdowns, the first on a 66-yard reception and the second on a 70-yard fumble return. He finished with three catches for 100 yards, two rushes for 33 yards, was a menace on defense and even played a little quarterback.
― John Rinkenbaugh
FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE
Lely at Naples
Dunbar at Port Charlotte
Riverdale at Cape Coral
North Fort Myers at East Lee
Lemon Bay at Estero
West Boca Raton at Bishop Verot
Immokalee at Aubrey Rogers
Charlotte at Mariner
Barron Collier at Golden Gate
First Baptist at Lehigh
Oasis at Ida Baker
Keswick Christian at Canterbury
ECS at Westminster Christian
West Broward at Gulf Coast
South Fort Myers at Clewiston
Gateway at Lakewood Ranch
Gateway Charter at Marathon
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: SW Florida high school football Week 9: Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Naples area results
