Cape looks to extend streak
Somewhat surprisingly, the Black-N-Blue Bowl series between city rivals Cape Coral and Mariner hasn’t been all that competitive over the years.
Cape leads the series 15-13, sure, but despite that the margin of victory in the previous 28 contests sits right at 25 points. Programs rise and fall through the years and nowhere is that more evident than this series. It’s definitely one of many streaks.
“Cape-Mariner is one game we’ve never missed,” said Tritons coach Travis Smith. “We’ve played them every year since Mariner opened.?It’s easy for the kids to get up for it. I think we have an opportunity against Cape this year. We haven’t had a four-win season in a long time, so that would be nice.”
The Seahawks (2-7, 1-4 district) head into tonight’s 29th renewal having won 10 straight over the Tritons (3-6, 0-4).
“I look forward to it being a good game on the scoreboard and on the field,” said Seahawks coach Larry Gary. “This is one game we don’t have to get the kids ready for. We have more weapons than they do, we just have to play better defense. We’ve improved some, but give up more points than we want to.”
Mariner dominated this series early, winning first six and 10 of the first 13. That first streak was followed by Cape winning three in a row. Mariner won four straight, followed by Cape taking two in a row. Mariner won the next three straight, the last of those coming in 2004 with a 27-20 win in double overtime. That game, the last won by the Tritons, is one of just six games decided by seven points or less.
The most recent competitive match was in 2012, won by the Seahawks 24-17. Cape also won the closest game of all, 24-23, in 2005.
“I don’t talk about the past, just how important this game is to the community,” said Gary. “They all know the history. We’re down this year, so we have to pick it up. We haven’t been this down in a long time.”
Really long time. The last time the Seahawks ended a season with just two wins was in 2001, six different coaches ago.
“The seniors know this is the last 48 minutes of high school football they will ever play,” said Smith. “We haven’t won it in a long time. I’ve used it to challenge them all year to be the class that starts to turn this program around. They all want to go out on the right note. A great senior crew wants to end on a win.”
Other games tonight, North Fort Myers (4-5, 2-3) journeys to Barron Collier (6-3, 1-2) and Oasis (2-7) finishes off the season with a road trip to Brooksville Hernando.
Elsewhere on this final weekend of the regular season: Estero (3-6, 2-1) hosts Cypress Lake (2-6, 1-3); South Fort Myers (7-2, 2-0) hosts North Miami Senior; Fort Myers (7-2, 3-0) hosts Dunbar (7-1, 4-0); Lehigh (2-6, 1-2) invades Riverdale (3-6, 0-2); East Lee County (1-7, 0-3) visits SWF?Christian (5-4, 3-3); winless Gateway Charter (0-9, 0-6) travels to C.S. Naples (8-1, 4-1); and Canterbury (5-3) heads north to Out-of-Door Academy.