Athletes of the Week
With injuries to several key players, North Fort Myers turned to senior leader Tre Boston in last Friday’s 42-28 victory over Mariner at Tony McKenna Field.
Boston stepped into the quarterback role and responded with a monster game that included four rushing touchdowns and one passing touchdown. His performance sparked the Knights to a pivotal win.
Cape Coral High’s girls’ swim team ended the strangehold Fort Myers had on the LCAC title last Wednesday at DeLeon Pool, with senior Christina Todd taking first in two individual events – the 200 IM and 100 fly.
Those performances earned Boston and Todd Daily Breeze Male and Female Athlete of the Week honors.
For the Red Knights, the plan this season was to use senior quarterback Nathan McIntosh as the primary signal-caller with the athletic Boston taking some shotgun snaps in a wildcat-style package.
Circumstances changed after McIntosh suffered a collarbone injury early in the Knights’ District 3A-11 game at Mariner, forcing Boston into his most extensive action at quarterback.
“It felt like I had to step up pretty much,” said Boston, a University of Cincinnati recruit. “We had a lot of players hurt. I had to take the opportunity to do what I could do on the field, which is make plays.”
With the line blocking and the receivers catching passes and blocking downfield when Boston carried the ball himself, the Knights piled up points against the Tritons.
Boston fired a 14-yard TD pass to Mike Rosario in the first quarter and added rushing touchdowns of 23, 7, 31, and 63 yards. He finished with 281 yards rushing.
“I played quarterback a little bit during the Island Coast game (in Week 1), but I was never under center full-time,” he said. “We all had to step up.”
North coach Barry Goettemoeller has seen Boston’s versatility and big-play potential the past two seasons. There are times, Goettemoeller said, when Boston tries to make a play on his own. That happened Friday on a critical fourth-and-one play.
Goettemoeller said he directed Boston to take the ball up the middle on a sneak, but Boston instead ran around the outside and went for a touchdown.
“It was one of those plays where you’re saying, ‘no, no, no and then yes,'” Goettemoeller said. “When Tre came back to the sideline he had a smile on his face and said, ‘I saw it and I had to take it.'”
Boston’s impact has been enormous this season. He leads the team with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions.
Though Boston is still focused on the final games of his senior season, he’s also checking out his future team, the Cincinnati Bearcats, who are undefeated and contending for the Big East title.
Their success comes as no surprise to Boston.
“They weren’t ranked when I chose them before the season, but I knew what they were going to do,” he said.
Honorable mentions:
Sean O’Connor, freshman, Ida Baker Bulldogs diving – O’Connor won the first LCAC swimming and diving title in program history last Tuesday, winning the one-meter diving title with a score of 357.25.
Mike Dumas, sophomore, Island Coast Gators football – Dumas, a quarterback, led the Gators with 89 yards and the go-ahead touchdown in a 6-2 upset win over Dunbar last Friday.
Though the Seahawks feature a deep and talented girls’ swim team, three cornerstone seniors – Todd, Meghan Cotugno and Lauren Smith – lead the way. Each has been involved in several major competitions in recent years, including at the regional and state level.
It required those seniors and many of their teammates to swim their best last Wednesday for the Seahawks to capture the LCAC title, thus ending Fort Myers’ 12-year run as champs.
Todd seized the moment with her two thrilling victories in the 200 IM and 100 fly and in the final event – the 400 free relay – Todd swam a strong third leg for the win.
The Seahawks added a district championship Monday.
“With a lot of the key swimmers being seniors, we were trying to go out with a bang,” Todd said. “Each year it’s been like we’re getting closer, we’re getting closer, and now we’re finally doing it.”
In the 200 IM, Todd and Fort Myers’ Audrey Modglin exchanged leads several times, before Todd pushed ahead on the final lap.
The 100 fly was even closer between Todd and Fort Myers’ Abbi Tyler. There was hardly any separation when both lunged for the wall, but Todd posted the winning time by 12-hundredths of a second.
Given her results at Monday’s district, a second-place finish in the 200 IM and third-place in the 100 fly, Todd figures to qualify for regionals for the fourth straight year. She reached state last year in the 100 fly, an event she’s specialized in since her freshman year, and advanced to state as part of two relay teams her sophomore year.
Todd began swimming at age 7 in northwest Indiana, and has continued at Cape High and with Swim Florida in Fort Myers.
Though she’s been involved in the sport for several years, Todd said there still are butterflies when standing on the deck waiting for the big race to start. It becomes easier to focus when thinking about all the hours of practice.
“When I’m getting tired, I just have that switch in my mind,” she said. “I know that I put so much time into it.”
Todd said each swimmer has a different routine between events.
“A lot of people eat, but I can’t eat during swim meets,” she said. “I usually just try to keep an upbeat personality.
“When I go in and warm up it’s kind of like the time you have to get in race mode where you think about how you’re going to go out, how you’re going to pace yourself and how you’re going to finish.”
Honorable mentions:
Miko Dougherty, senior, Ida Baker Bulldogs golf – Dougherty fired a 2-over-par 74 in the District 2A-15 Golf Tournament to earn a regional berth.
Jamie Bentley, senior, Mariner volleyball – Bentley turned it on down the stretch, recording 21 digs, three aces and five kills in a victory over Cape Coral.