A roundup of Southwest Florida spring football games played on Thursday, May 18:
Venice 49, Naples 28
After trailing 35-7 at halftime, the Golden Eagles came within 4 yards of pulling even with the Indians at the start of the fourth quarter.
The Venice defense had the last say, forcing a turnover on a field goal attempt to thwart the Naples comeback but that didn’t diminish head coach Rick Martin’s pride in his team’s effort.
“Holy smokes,” he said. “First of all, all the credit goes to Venice High School. Great program, great team. That’s why we put them on the schedule. We wanted to get better this spring, and that’s exactly what we did.”
More: Spring football game previews for Naples, Estero, Lely and North Fort Myers. What you need to know
Venice dominated the first half, getting on the board with a quick pass from Jadyn Glasser to Jayce Barksdale for a 21-yard score, followed by a goal-line rushing touchdown by Alvin Johnson.
Naples quarterback Jack Melton scored on a 3-yard rushing touchdown, but that was followed by Glasser finding Deylen Platt for a 59-yard score.
Naples was plagued by turnovers in the first half, including a Melton pick-6, returned by Venice’s Adam Papantonakis.
The Indians extended their lead with Johnson’s second score, an 18-yard rushing touchdown.
“We’re a young ball club,” Martin said. “We got a lot of young kids that have just played JV football, and this was their first varsity game, so that’s a pretty tall task to go play a team that’s been to two straight state titles and let that be your first ever varsity experience.”
After halftime, Martin watched his group settle down and put together a spectacular quarter of football.
It was ignited by lineman Brady Clark who intercepted a deflected pass by Venice quarterback Ryan Downes and returned it for a touchdown.
The team kept chipping away, with Melton throwing a 54-yard touchdown pass down the sideline to Damarion Salters and running in his second score of the night.
The fourth quarter began with the Eagles at first-and-goal from the 4-yard line, but they were unable to convert. A botched snap on their 29-yard field goal attempt led to points the other way, courtesy of Platt’s scoop-and-score.
Johnson got in the end zone for a third time to extend the lead, but, after a shaky start, the Eagles proved themselves to be worthy competition.
“For them boys to come out like they did in the second half and show their character and show who they really are – I’m proud of these men,” Martin said.
Three Naples takeaways
1. Shawn Simeon was the Eagles’ bell cow – and produced. The sophomore rushed for 213 yards on 40 carries. He became tougher to bring down as the night went on with three of his four runs of 20 yards or more coming in the second half.
“We knew that was going to happen,” Martin said. “I’ve known that for probably since last year. It’s a testament to him working his butt off all offseason. It’s a testament to his offensive line, working their butts off and believing in each other and just everybody contributing to what we did tonight.”
2. The Naples coaching staff got a good look at their quarterbacks. Melton split time with Carter Quinn throughout the game. Melton produced more in the running and passing game – including three touchdowns – but was also responsible for a pair of turnovers in the first half.
“I think both of them competed, and they held their composure and did what we asked them to do and that was what we wanted to see,” Martin said. “We weren’t trying to get too much out of them. … I’m happy with both of their performances.”
3. Naples said “not so fast” to the narrative. Naturally, losing talents like Jean Tanelus and Jonas Duclona on defense and Kendrick Raphael and Isaiah Augustave will raise questions. But, with the gritty comeback the Eagles mounted on Thursday, Martin believe in the promise of the next men up.
“Let’s be honest – I think everybody thinks we’re down. I think everybody’s doubting us,” he said. “I think everybody thinks that this is the year to get Naples, and it might be, but tonight I think we showed that we got some young guys that aren’t afraid of the moment and guys that are good football players too.”
– Dustin Levy
Out-of-Door 7, Bradenton Christian 6
Oasis 3, Out-of-Door 3
Bradenton Christian 6, Oasis 0
The biggest news came after the event when the Panthers announced 25-year-old Nate Strawderman as its new football coach.
On the field, the teams each played two quarters with 25 minutes of running clock, stopped only on change of possession and timeouts. There were no live extra points, but special teams played a role in the outcomes.
In the first half, Out-of-Door defeated Bradenton Christian, 7-6. Oasis and Out-of-Door played to a 3-all tie in the second quarter. Bradenton Christian wrapped things up with a 6-0 verdict over Oasis before announcing Strawderman’s appointment.
Out-of-Door Academy takeaways
1. Against Bradenton Christian, Charlie Tack scored on a 1-yard run midway through the quarter. Mika Levy kicked what proved to be the game-winning extra point. Dylan Walker had two interceptions, including one on Bradenton Christian’s first offensive play. Bennett Crisci and Frankie Clark each had tackles for a loss. The Thunder fumbled on two consecutive plays and three of five plays, losing two.
2. Against Oasis, Levy kicked a 32-yard field goal to open the scoring. The Thunder had an 80-yard fumble return for a touchdown nullified by a penalty. Andrew Creed notched a sack and had a tackle for a loss. Aengus Doody and Jack Meyers had pass break ups.
3. Coach Rob Holloway: “The kids played hard. That was my favorite part. Obviously, we have a lot to improve on. We’re big up front. We moved the line of scrimmage. We were looking to have fun and some momentum going into the summer, which we did today. We were missing some guys with baseball and track. We’ve got to improve our passing game to be more balanced. That’s what we are going to focus on.”
Oasis takeaways
1. Against Out-of-Door, Ryan Rosado kicked a field goal as time expired to get the tie. With the running clock, the Sharks had to rush their field goal unit on the field and just beat the horn. Colin Anderson had a couple of big runs early and ran for some tough yards late. Sean McFee recovered a fumble. On the tying drive, quarterback Parker Smith had a long run and threw a pass to Tommy Murphy, who made a bobbling catch.
2. Against Bradenton Christian, Smith connected with Murphy on a sideline pattern. James Wagenhoffer broke up a pass. Wyatt Wilkinson had a tackle for a loss and a sack on fourth down during one series. Logan Conley and Wagenhoffer each had tackles for a loss before Bradenton Christian’s touchdown.
3. Coach Jason Grain: “Our guys played with intensity and effort. We dressed 20 players and they left it on the line. Great toughness. Great character. Every year is a new team, so I wanted to set the culture for this team. I wanted to see what we had. Our kids have done a great job in the spring. They have been very, very tough. In the next stage of our progression, we have to be a championship team in terms of execution.”
Bradenton Christian takeaways
1. Against Out-of-Door, Jesus Lopez recorded a sack and Fischer Schmidt forced a fumble on the Thunder’s first possession. Evan Velsquez recovered a fumble. Colton Dempsy had a big run early and a first-down scamper on the scoring drive. Anthony Nguyen connected with Jackson McBride before hitting Ben Bradshaw, who caught a tipped pass for a touchdown with 51.4 seconds left.
2. Against Oasis, Caden Ott hit Cooper Stark on a post pattern late in the quarter for the only score. The two also hooked up in the first series, when Ott hit Bradshaw for a first down. Dempsey had a long run. Stark prevented an Oasis interception when he knocked the ball away from a defender. The Panthers tried a trick play on the two-point conversion, but the throw to Ott was broken up.
Coach Strawderman: “Coming back from not knowing who’s going to be the coach, what are we doing? These kids know how to overcome adversity. I told them a couple of weeks ago: Adversity and overcoming. We’re climbing the ladder and building something great. I couldn’t be more proud of these kids to come out here and to ignore all the crowd and overcome. The word tonight is proud.”
– Dennis Maffezzoli
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Spring football roundup: Naples falls to Venice, Oasis plays in jamboree
