Green Wave swamp Gators 35-14
The last time Kory Curtis took the field, his team was in the midst of a 10-victory season, was flush with college-bound playmakers and was three wins shy of the first state title in school history.
These days, there’s a new reality for the soon-to-be Island Coast junior.
The updated version of the Gators find themselves in third-degree coaching limbo, are struggling to replace the offensive production of two Division I recruits and had both depth and conditioning concerns repeatedly expose Friday night in a 35-14 loss t Fort Myers in the 2015 spring football game.
“It’s kind of hard. It’s really hard,” a sheepish Curtis said moments after the team got an earful from interim coach Greg Coleman. “It’s hard not having guys that you can just go to when you’re in trouble, or having the kind of experience we had across the field last year.
“It’s difficult. It’s real difficult, but the guys we have now are young, and I feel like they can develop to maybe be the playmakers that we had here before. We’re going to be working to get there every day.”
Indeed, Island Coast lost the services of wide receiver Ryan Pulley and running back Van Edwards, who are off to play at Arkansas and Akron. Meanwhile, Curtis will endeavor to finalize his own next-level commitment after completing 17 of 28 passes for 147 yards and a touchdown in his final spring fling.
He also scored on a one-yard plunge and kicked a pair of extra points.
Between the QB sneak in the first quarter and the 28-yard TD strike to Drew Lusk in the fourth, not a whole lot went right for the Gators. They accounted for 287 total yards on 62 plays from scrimmage, punted seven times and turned the ball over on downs once in 10 possessions.
The Green Wave accounted for four touchdowns between Curtis’ two scoring plays, getting TD runs from Darrian Felix, one from Xavier Perez and a 13-yard pass from Edwitch Merisier to Bensley BorNelus.
Overall, Fort Myers gained 467 yards on 54 plays before kneeling two times to end matters.
“This should leave a pretty nasty taste in your mouths, and the question is what are you going to do to fix this?” Coleman told the team. “Maybe you need to swallow a little pride. Maybe this butt-kicking was good for us, and there’s no question that it was a butt-kicking.”
Coleman’s own future is unclear as it relates to the permanent head coaching position, which opened up when Wayne Blair resigned after last season, and re-opened when Blair’s replacement, Rashad West, resigned in April after just one month on the job.
Coleman also coaches the school’s boys’ basketball team and refused to outright say that he’s pursuing the football slot, because he didn’t want to put school administration in an uncomfortable position.
He did, however, say that he’d be plotting out a summertime program for the players that would be implemented unless a replacement is hired and arrives on the scene with a blueprint of his own.
“Hopefully, everything falls into place as far as coaching is concerned,” he said.
“If I’m the guy, we’re going to follow that plan. I’ve got a feeling the next two weeks it’s going to be assessed, and I’m confident we’ll have someone in place by the first week of summer. Whomever that might be will have the whole summer to get things ready to go.”
Ft. Myers 6 14 15 0 – 35
Island Coast 7 0 0 7 – 14
Scoring Summary
FM – Merisier 25 run (kick blocked)
IC – Curtis 1 run (Curtis kick)
FM – Felix 4 run (Merisier run)
FM – BorNelus 13 pass from Merisier (kick failed)
FM – Perez 8 run (Merisier run)
FM – Felix 63 run (Saint-Louis kick)
IC – Lusk 28 pass from Curtis (Curtis kick)