Prep football kicks off with preseason tilts
Minus the possibility of a win or loss going on the record, Friday night’s high school football preseason classics offer much the same as the 11 weeks of action that follow.
Teams take the field under the lights. Coaches get another opportunity to continue their evaluation process.
Perhaps more importantly, after three weeks of practice, which began Aug. 10, players get a chance to take out their aggression on an opponent.
“Mainly, we’re looking forward to letting the kids cut loose,” Mariner coach Chad O’Brien said. “They’ve been going against each other so much, you don’t want to beat each other up.”
The preseason scrimmages consist of four quarters, like a regular game. Mariner travels to Cypress Lake for a 7 p.m. kickoff. Other games (which begin at 7:30 p.m.) include Cape Coral at Riverdale, Ida Baker at Estero, North Fort Myers at Dunbar, Island Coast at Port Charlotte and East Lee County at Bishop Verot.
How long the starters or established varsity players go depends on the team. In some cases, players are still being evaluated to see if they’ll be counted on early in the season as varsity players.
“Our varsity team is around 40 players,” O’Brien said. “This is where you make your depth. If kids perform well they can stay up. For the kids that need time to develop, it will show.”
North coach Barry Goettemoeller said the top priority is to come out of the scrimmage healthy for the regular season, which begins Sept. 4.
Though he added that the Red Knights want to see which plays work the best.
“We’d like to see what we run well and what might be our bread and butter for the season,” he said.
n Cape Coral at Riverdale: As preseason scrimmages go, this is one intriguing match-up of teams that qualified for the post season last year.
Cape High finished 7-4 and fell to Venice, 35-14, in the Class 5A regional quarterfinals. Riverdale finished with the same mark, falling to Naples 61-23 in the Class 3A regional quarterfinals.
Both the Seahawks and Raiders appear to have the pieces in place to contend in District 4A-12 and 3A-11, respectively.
The Seahawks are led by quarterback/safety Jaylen Watkins, a Florida recruit. He finished last season with 329 yards rushing and five touchdowns, and on defense, tallied 71 tackles and three interceptions.
Division I commits, senior Spencer Boyd (Notre Dame) and senior Jeremy Davis (Miami), bring more speed and play-making ability to the Seahawks’ attack, while senior offensive tackle Dan Koenig (Oklahoma State) anchors the line.
The Raiders counter with an experienced group, which includes senior quarterback Nathan Gahafer and senior fullback/linebacker Garrett Greenwell.
Another emerging threat is senior receiver Kyle Waldrop, who had five catches for 150 yards in the Raiders’ 28-14 victory over Ida Baker in the spring game.
n Mariner at Cypress Lake: The Tritons are striving for more offensive production, which has held them back in the bigger games the past two seasons.
In four District 5A-12 losses last season, the Tritons were held to a total of 24 points. They lost 23-10 to arch rival Cape Coral and were defeated by Ida Baker (17-0), North Fort Myers (8-7) and Fort Myers (38-7).
O’Brien said the Tritons have the talent but they need to make plays consistently when they have the opportunity.
The Tritons move to District 3A-11 which figures to be just as challenging competing against the likes of Fort Myers, North, Riverdale, South Fort Myers and Bishop Verot.
They’re once again led by the tandem of senior running back/defensive back Eric Mitchell and senior quarterback/defensive back Gabby Rojas.
Mitchell, who recently committed to Ole Miss, has been the team’s primary offensive weapon the past two years. Rojas is back healthy after sitting out the spring due to reconstructive knee surgery.
The host Panthers, who finished 4-6 last year, are guided by first-year coach Michael Thornton, who took over for Chris Hall.
n Ida Baker at Estero: The Bulldogs have gradually progressed in their four varsity seasons. The obvious next step is reaching the playoffs for the first time in school history.
They’ll compete in 4A-12 with city rival Cape Coral, Gulf Coast and Palmetto Ridge.
Though the Bulldogs (5-5 in 2008) have a strong nucleus of players returning to make a run, coach Brian Conn said they’re lacking depth.
They hope some less heralded players can start to emerge Friday in a preseason classic at Estero.
The list of notables for the Bulldogs includes senior Johnny Garcia, a tight end/linebacker, who verbally committed to Wake Forest.
Senior running back/defensive back Joseph Byrd brings game-breaking speed, evident by his state runner-up finishes in the 100 and 200 during the track season.
Byrd is welcomed back at full strength after a broken ankle hampered his playing time last season.
Beginning his second year as starting quarterback, junior Sean Francis has some experienced weapons in junior Darryl Gary and senior Jacob York.
Andrew Haynes, the team’s leading tackler last season, should again be a lead presence on defense.
Estero enters the 2009 season with a clear goal: win.
The Wildcats, led by second-year coach Rich Dombrowski, have gone 0-10 each of the past two seasons.
n North Fort Myers at Dunbar: They’ll be no shortage of speed and athleticism on the field at Dunbar, as the Tigers host the Red Knights.
The Tigers turned in a stellar season last year, finishing 10-2. They were upended by Naples 17-14 in a thrilling Class 3A regional semifinals game.
Though Phil Vogt’s team has some key starters to replace, the squad still features a host of marquee players on both sides of the ball, including senior running back Jorvonte Jones, senior receiver Joel German and senior defensive end Desmond Kearse.
The Red Knights look to make a leap forward after finishing 5-5 in their first season under coach Barry Goettemoeller.
Senior quarterback/defensive back Tre Boston, a Cincinnati recruit, leads the list of returnees.
The Knights have several key players on defense, including senior linebacker Ben Bolling, junior linebacker Arthur Green, senior defensive lineman Kyle Schmidt and sophomore linebacker Steven Mercado, who transferred from Illinois.
n Island Coast at Port Charlotte: Entering their first 10-game varsity season, the Island Coast Gators want to establish themselves as a competitive team on the area landscape.
They’ll travel to Port Charlotte for a preseason classic Friday, before visiting North Fort Myers in the season opener.
The Gators went 3-3 in six varsity games last year and return nearly the entire roster, losing only five seniors.
Junior tight end/defensive end Aaron Lynch, junior offensive/defensive lineman Brian Bosworth and sophomore quarterback Mike Dumas are expected to be key contributors this season.
n East Lee County at Bishop Verot: The host Vikings have some momentum going after finishing 7-4 and 6-4 the past two seasons.
Junior quarterback Jake Kistel will operate in the pro-style offense, with experienced pass catchers Jamie Alvarez, Jeff Farrell and Forrest Campbell.
East Lee County posted four wins in 2008 after going 0-10 in the 2007. The Jaguars return an explosive running back tandem of James Holland and Kyandre Smith.
Three one-point losses prevented the Jaguars from vaulting into legitimate playoff contention.