Season winding down for football squads
As the final weeks of the football season wind down, area teams are assessing their fate in terms of a season that was lost, a season squandered, a season on the playoff bubble, or a season assured of a playoff appearance.
Most Cape teams are lined up in the earlier of those descriptions after last Friday’s outcomes. A double-overtime victory over city rival Island Coast earned the Cape Coral Seahawks (2-5, 1-2 district) a pride-boosting result near the end of a disappointing District 6A-10 campaign. That’s about all the Seahawks can hope for in their final two district matches, this Friday at state-ranked Charlotte (7-0, 3-0) and the following week at North Fort Myers (2-5, 0-3).
Immokalee’s sound defeat of Mariner means the stock of the Tritons (2-5, 0-3) hasn’t improved in the District 5A-12 standings. Likewise for North Fort Myers (2-5, 0-3) in 6A-10, which lost to Charlotte. Ida Baker (3-5, 1-2) saw its playoff bubble burst by a loss at Port Charlotte (4-3, 3-0).
In the current district standings, only Bishop Verot (6-2, 3-1), Fort Myers (5-2, 2-0), Estero (2-6, 1-1), and Dunbar (5-1, 2-0) from Lee County cling to first or second in their respective district’s playoff spots.
Cape Coral 48, Island Coast 42: Despite a 1-5 record, the Seahawks proved they still have plenty of fight left in them and they needed every ounce of it to win a wild double-overtime battle with the Gators.
Two overtime touchdowns by senior receiver C.J. Lewis capped the thrilling victory as the Seahawks improved to 2-5 overall and 1-2 against District 6A-10 foes.
“Our kids have been playing hard all year, they just haven’t put it together to win many games,” said Seahawks coach Larry Gary. “They deserved this one, they played their butts off.”
The game literally was a back-and-forth affair with seven different lead changes and three ties, which carried over into the first overtime when Cape forced a second overtime.
After being called for offensive pass interference, Lewis made the play of many plays in the game on fourth-and-goal at the Gators’ 15. Back-up senior quarterback Hunter Bontrager extended the play with some nifty moves to avoid an onslaught of Gators defenders, then tossed a jump ball in Lewis’ direction in the back of the end zone. Lewis was gold, outjumping two defenders to haul in the game-tying score.
The go-to wideout was not done.
After the Seahawks defense stiffened to force a turnover on downs, the very first play from the required 10-yard line in the second overtime was the last play of the game.
A direct snap to the Seahawks runningback sucked in the linebackers and secondary players to the line of scrimmage. A flip back to Bontrager was realized too late. Lewis, who was in motion, snuck out into the right flat unnoticed. Bontrager hit the wide open Lewis for the game-winning six points.
The victory was especially special for the seniors, who were playing their last game at Dave Warkentin Stadium. Lewis made it count in his last game, hauling in five catches for 150 yards, including a 72-yard screen for a touchdown in the second quarter to put the Seahawks up 14-12.
Bontrager provided a huge spark, going 6-of-8 for 85 yards and three touchdowns, including a game-saving 14-yard slant touchdown to Keyshawn McCoy to tie the game in the waning moments of the fourth quarter.
Isaac Washington rushed for 188 yards on 26 carries. He also had a five-yard TD run in the third quarter.
Cape close the season on the road the next three weeks, with games at Charlotte, North Fort Myers and Mariner.
The Gators (2-6, 1-2 district) are at Port Charlotte and host Ida Baker to close out their regular season.
Island Coast 12 8 0 15 7 0 – 42
Cape Coral 7 7 14 7 7 6 – 48
IC: Greaves 11 run (kick failed)
CC: Washington 4 run (Stone kick)
IC: Curtis 1 run (run failed)
CC: Lewis 72 pass from Flournoy (Stone kick)
IC: Jenkins 6 run (Jenkins run)
CC: Washington 5 run (Stone kick)
CC: Flournoy 5 run (Stone kick)
IC: Curtis 1 run (Grover run)
IC: Grover 28 pass from Curtis (Curtis kick)
CC: McCoy 14 pass from H. Bontrager (Stone kick)
IC: Jenkins 7 run (Curtis kick)
CC: Lewis 15 pass from Bontrager (Stone kick)
CC: Lewis 10 pass from Bontrager
Immokalee 37, Mariner 6: Mired in their own end of the field most of the night, the Tritons eventually wore down against the Indians (3-5, 2-0 district) in a District 5A-12 matchup.
“They did a great job,” Tritons coach Travis Smith said. “My hat’s off to Dale Moore. He’s doing a great job turning that program around. They had a rough start, and they’ve got them back in tune.”
Immokalee took advantage of the kicking game to score three touchdowns in less than seven minutes. After punting to pin the Tritons at their own 1, Immokalee forced a short punt that gave the Indians a first down on Mariner’s 30. On fourth-and-eight, Mac Joseph hit Jean Sanon for a 28-yard touchdown with 6:55 left until halftime.
“We can’t win games when the defense is on the field the whole night,” Smith said. “I give them credit. They fought their hearts out. We didn’t do a good job on offense. We put the ball on the ground on a kickoff. We didn’t play three phases of football tonight. The defense was on the field way too much.”
Cairo Juenegens hit Nick Simon with a 45-yard pass, leading to Juenegens’ two-yard run for the Tritons’ lone touchdown.
The Tritons (2-5, 0-3) are home this Friday against East Lee County.
Immokalee 3 22 6 6 – 37
Mariner 0 0 6 0 – 6
I – FG, Cuaves 29
I – Sanon 28 pass from Joseph (conversion failed)
I – Joseph 4 run (Green run)
I – Joseph 28 run (Jackson run)
I – Green 2 run (conversion failed)
M – Juenegens 2 run (kick failed)
I – Green 1 run (conversion failed)
Charlotte 35, North Fort Myers 21: Red Knights dynamic tailback Zaquandre White scored three touchdowns as North took the halftime lead before the state’s No. 6-ranked Class 6-A team took control.
Elijah Mack scored four times and rushed for 140 yards on 24 carries, Dee Hicks caught a 39-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to give Charlotte the lead for good, and the defense put up a huge goal-line stand in a District 6A-10 matchup.
Charlotte remains unbeaten (7-0, 3-0 district) despite trailing 14-0 early. North’s flicker of hope burned out in the second half by not capitalizing on opportunities.
“We had chances in the second half, but it’s the same thing we’ve done all year. We had a chance and didn’t get it done,” Red Knights coach Earnest Graham said. “You can’t give back plays against a good team like Charlotte.”
Up 21-14 at the break, the Red Knights (2-5, 0-3) appeared about to get their 14-point lead back following an 85-yard punt return by White, but the TD was nullified by a penalty.
It proved costly. Charlotte stood on defense and blocked the punt, leading to Mack’s third score to tie the game. The Tarpons drove 80 yards in eight plays, with Hicks catching Brennan Simms’ pass for the score to make it 28-21 with 10:19 left in the game.
J’Ravien Andersen found Brandon King open for a 69-yard pass play to put the ball inside the 1. Charlotte kept the Knights out of the end zone and D’Vonte Price got the first of his two interceptions to end the threat.
Charlotte 0 14 7 14 – 35
North Fort Myers 14 7 0 0 – 21
NFM – White 5 run (Ferris kick)
NFM – White 1 run (Ferris kick)
CHS – Mack 5 run (Andrukiewicz kick)
CHS – Mack 21 run (Andrukiewicz kick)
NFM – White 2 pass from Andersen (Ferris kick)
CHS – Mack 4 run (Andrukiewicz kick)
CHS – Hicks 39 pass from Simms (Andrukiewicz kick).
CHS – Mack 2 run (Andrukiewicz kick)
Staff writer Brian Wierima and freelance writers Pete Sisk and Chuck Ballaro contributed to this report.