It’s all fun and games until the rain starts falling.
In what is almost an annual rite of passage during any football season’s first couple of weeks, there comes a Friday night in which the rain refuses to go away.
Perhaps the area got that bugaboo out of the way in Week 1. All Sun Preps area games, all Southwest Florida games and most of the games in the central part of the state suffered some sort of rain or lightning delay on Friday, leaving many teams on the field well after 11 p.m.
While The Daily Sun is one of the last newspapers in the state with a deadline late enough to include Friday night football in the next day’s paper, this past Friday’s delays proved to be even too much for us. We hope you found our coverage online at SunPreps.com.
Anyway, out of last week’s muck, several sterling performances arose. For those who gave us such performances, we hand out something we like to call, “game balls.”
If only they were actual game balls. That’s not in our budget right now. But here are our metaphorical game balls for the standouts of Week 1:
CHARLOTTE
Shout out to Trenton Curliss, who gave himself a lemon and made lemonade. Curliss is a three-way player for the Tarpons — tight end, defensive end and punter. It’s in that third hat he made the wackadoodle play of the week.
Lined up for a punt deep in Tarpon territory during Friday’s home date with Gulf Coast, Curliss skied the boot. The ball came down near the original line of scrimmage. It was there that Curliss made a heads-up play, noting a Gulf Coast defender had touched the ball, making it live. He scooped up the loose ball and rumbled 75 yards for a touchdown in Charlotte’s eventual 27-6 win.
Curliss also had a fumble recovery on defense during the game to go along with 9 tackles, 3 for loss.
Like he did in the Kickoff Classic, receiver Jackson Hay found the end zone twice for the Tarpons. Quarterback Teagen Lipke had more than 200 total yards, including a 17-yard touchdown run.
DESOTO COUNTY
The Bulldogs were blanked at Okeechobee for the second consecutive season, this time by a 27-0 count. As one might expect, the Bulldogs who had the best outings on Friday night were a couple who didn’t put up any stats.
DeSoto County coach Cliff Lohrey highlighted the play of defensive tackle Robert Gardner, who proved disruptive up front, and fullback Aaron Langley, who is looking much more comfortable at the position after a late transition from the offensive line.
LEMON BAY
The Mantas suffered a second-half letdown on Friday at Lakewood Ranch. Lemon Bay saw its halftime lead disappear as the Mustangs stampeded to the 42-18 victory.
Adam Schwartz continues to provide highlights for the Mantas. He scored the team’s first points on a 31-yard touchdown run. He would finish with 77 yards on just nine carries. Though Lemon Bay couldn’t hold on to their 18-14 halftime lead, Caleb Hutcherson did his best to keep the Mantas in the game defensively, snagging a pair of interceptions to go along with his team-high six tackles.
NORTH PORT
The Bobcats saw a pick-six go the other way on their first possession and never entirely recovered as Parrish Community came away with a 24-3 win.
Junior Nash Hudgens continues to be a highlight for North Port along the offensive line. The center collected four pancakes on Friday night, earning the North Port Jersey Mike’s Athlete of the Week honors.
PORT CHARLOTTE
Ike Perry needed twice as many carries to match his production from the week before, but in that performance, he showed why he might be the area’s top running back.
In a 50-6 victory against Island Coast, Perry picked up a significant amount of yards after contact. He finished with 177 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries. None of those totes went for negative yards.
Defensively, Jamari Vaughn is making a meal out his spot as a defensive end along side linemen King Justice and Myron Charles. Though he never got home for a sack, Vaughn had numerous pressures on Island Coast’s quarterback, leading to hurried and incomplete throws. Charles himself eventually broke through for a sack on a straight bull rush. Defensive back Chavon Lizana had an interception and scooped up a blocked punt. Xavier Shipley also had an interception.
VENICE
If a game ends up featuring 103 total points scored, where does one begin the search for outstanding playmakers?
Defense, of course!
In Venice’s wild 63-40 win against visiting Tampa Bay Tech, Asharri Charles (15 tackles, one forced fumble, one sack) and Landon Marsters (16 tackles) proved to be menaces.
OK, ok, on to the offensive fireworks. Get used to the name Winston Watkins Jr.
The senior transfer had a whopping 10 receptions for 157 yards and three touchdowns as a big part of quarterback Jayce Nixon‘s huge outing (14 of 22 passing, 228 yards, four touchdowns). Jamarice Wilder tallied 148 yards and three touchdowns while Dorien Jones had 11 carries for 94 yards and a score, as well.
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