Baker-SFM holds meaning
n Schedule, district standings, 12A
By JIM LINETTE
Ida Baker hopes to ride a wave of confidence gained from last week’s big District 6A-10 victory over Cape Coral to another big win at South Fort Myers tonight.
Baker and South were district rivals the past two seasons with the Wolfpack winning the District title and the Bulldogs second both seasons. This year they play in different districts.
“It still has a lot of meaning,” said Bulldogs coach Brian Conn. “Our schools are the same age and we’ve played football ever since we opened. They are one of the teams we can say are our oldest rivals along with Cape.”
Beating Cape Coral 49-27 last week righted the Bulldogs’ ship, which had been wavering in previous games.
“We expected to play well,” said Conn. “We had high expectations and executed our game plan in all phases, but we got sloppy with some flags. That will help us going to South Fort Myers (4-1). It’s a county game.”
While the Bulldogs are dinged up a bit with injuries, Conn said it mostly is minor stuff.
“We will get them back whether it is this week or next,” Conn said. “Every team deals with injuries. We just hope to keep our momentum to sin two in a row and keep our confidence high.”
The Bulldogs (3-3, 1-1 district) own their own destiny in district play. They currently stand third behind Charlotte (6-0, 2-0) and Port Charlotte (3-2, 2-0). Having lost to Charlotte, the Bulldogs need a victory next week at Port Charlotte in order to stake a claim to the district’s second playoff spot, and not stumble down the stretch against North Fort Myers and Island Coast.
“To be district champs we need some help, but we need to control what we can control,” said Conn. “We need to keep winning.”
In other games tonight, Cape Coral (1-4, 0-2) steps out of the district to host Lehigh (0-5, 0-1); Island Coast (2-4, 1-1) visits non-district Dunbar (3-1, 1-0); and Bishop Verot (4-2, 2-1) hosts East Lee County (1-3, 0-1); Oasis (2-3) travels to Orlando to play Eastland. Mariner and North Fort Myers do not play.
Elsewhere in county matchups: Cypress Lake (2-3, 1-1) hosts Lemon Bay; Estero (1-5, 1-0) visits Golden Gate (3-3, 0-1); Riverdale (2-4, 0-1) hosts DeSoto County; SWF?Christian (3-2, 1-1) entertains Moore Haven (5-1, 2-1); and Canterbury (3-1) hosts Bayshore Christian.