Here’s a roundup of the Southwest Florida spring football games played on Tuesday, May 21.
One of the mantras of spring football many coaches say is, “We played well, but we have a lot to work on.”
And after Tuesday’s spring football game between Barron Collier and Charlotte at Golden Gate High School, both teams have a lot of work to do on defense.
It was the Cougars who had the last word as Simon Hincape scored his third touchdown of the night with 30 seconds left to give them a wild 48-41 victory.
Hincape was pretty psyched about the game and his hat trick.
“On the last play, we called an outside run. My two tight ends blocked beautifully and I cut inside and juked it out and went in,” Hincape said. “We’ve been getting close like a family and we’re getting better on offense and defense. All props to the line.”
The Tarpons led 41-34 after three quarters. However, Collier quarterback Nico Boyce ran it in from 7 yards to tie the game at 41 early in the fourth.
Charlotte quarterback Teagan Lipke played well, and receiver Steven Bullock had a huge evening with four touchdowns. However, Lipke threw a key interception to Ricardo Reategui to end a threat, and after a three-and-out, Collier was able to drive 62 yards on eight plays, with Hincape providing the winning score.
Charlotte reached midfield in a last-gasp drive, but Lipke fumbled to ice the game for the Cougars.
Collier coach Mark Johnson said the defense will need some work, but was happy with the effort.
“I wish we could have played better on defense, but we’re going to work hard in the summer and be ready to go,” Jackson said. “We have a lot of young guys on defense who are going to learn and be put in spots to be successful. We’re competing and I’m proud of them.”
Barron Collier flew out of the gates early, scoring four touchdowns on the Cougars’ first four possessions as Boyce picked apart the Tarpons defense. Hincape scored on Collier’s first possession to cap a 12-play drive. Boyce also found Jesse Mikolinski and Hincape for touchdown passes and Diego Gonzalez added a 9-yard touchdown run.
Thankfully for Charlotte, Lipke was able to keep the Tarpons within reach with a touchdown pass to Steven Bullock and long scoring runs from Jazzy McDaniel and Josh Carbajal to trail 28-19.
“The offensive line did a great job protecting and kept Simon clean all night and the receivers did a great job catching the ball and the running backs by committee did well,” Jackson said. “We had a lot of guys coming back on offense and lots to work on defensively, but we’re getting there.”
Boyce then made his only two mistakes, throwing picks to Bullock and Daveon Daniels, with both resulting in Tarpon touchdowns to Bullock from 39 and 7 yards to give Charlotte a 33-28 lead at break.
After Boyce threw a scoring pass to Caden Hudson to give Collier the 34-33 lead in the third quarter, Charlotte took the lead back on a 16-yard scoring catch by Bullock (seven catches, 100 yards) with a two-point conversion making it 41-34, setting up the finish. 
Boyce threw for 349 yards, while Hincape had 81 yards rushing and a 59-yard touchdown reception.
Jackson said the defense played better in the second half, getting those two turnovers late and holding the high-powered Charlotte offense a little more in check. However, he learned he has a young team that needs to be coached up in time for fall.
“We’re really young and we have a lot of room to improve. I’m proud of them. They’re going to work hard and I think we’ll be gritty and when you’re gritty, you can win a lot of games,” he said.
― Chuck Ballaro
In a spring game that saw two programs get a look at their first-year quarterbacks, it was a running back that shined. 
South Fort Myers won their spring contest at Palmetto Ridge 40-18 behind a dominant performance from Victor Jenkins. 
Jenkins rushed for 216 yards and three touchdowns on nine touches, and looks primed for another dominant season in the backfield. He also reeled in an interception and returned it 43 yards for a pick-six. 
“Victor is Victor,” said head coach Willis May Jr. “I’ve been able to count Victor since he was a baby. He just keeps getting better and better.”
The Wolfpack also got to see first year quarterback and rising junior Will Bichler. Bichler’s lack of experience showed early on, but he found his footing as the game went on. He missed some open receivers, muffed a few handoffs, and threw two picks, but also had some nice runs and connected on a pair of touchdown passes. He finished 8-of-22 in the air for 142 yards. 
“We had the Red and Black game last Friday and he was killing it,” May Jr. said. “He was throwing things on freaking point. He was a little bit nervous tonight, but he’s going to be a good one.”
On the Bear’s side, rising sophomore Anthony Sinatra, had similar struggles, but also had a swarming Wolfpack defensive line to deal with. 
Sinatra went 4-for-11 in the first half, but rallied to go 9-of-16 in the second half against South Fort Myers’ reserves. 
“He played well,” said head coach Zach Yates. “It was a lot of growing pains to start. When you get hit in the back for the first couples drives, it’s like ‘Well okay.’ But he settled in nicely. He needs some more reps to get comfortable but he’ll be alright over time.”
Steven Rousseau was exceptional for the Bears in the first half. He tried to tough out a sprained ankle in the second half, but had to be helped off the field just one play into the third quarter. 
Rousseau sacked Bilcher on the first play of the game, then caught an interception two plays later. He pieced together some strong runs in the first half as well. 
Devon Messenger also looked solid both against the Wolfpack’s first string and their reserves. He finished with 101 all purpose yards. He got the Bears out of some sticky situations with stick-moving catches and carries.
South Fort Myers’ defense shined. They forced five takeaways, got to the quarterback often, and limited big plays from Palmetto Ridge. They kept Palmetto Ridge scoreless with their starters in.
The Bears had pads popping as well. They had three takeaways of their own, including a stripped-ball touchdown from Samuel Brown. 
“Our guys want to play,” Yates said. “The scoreboard is a little bit slighted because we made crucial mistakes that young teams make… we forced couple turnovers early in the game that we just gave the ball right back. We’re a very young team, there’s going to be those kinds of growing pains. I’m glad we fought against a team like that.”
― Nick Wilson
VENICE – Two of the best high school football teams in Southwest Florida met at Powell-Davis Stadium on Tuesday evening in what wound up being a back-and-forth game.
Naples scored all of its points in a three-minute burst sandwiched around halftime, but otherwise played keep-up with Venice for most of the night on the way to a 27-17 Indians win. 
Each team played true to character for much of the night. 
Venice took some risky gambles – scoring its last two touchdowns on fourth-down passes – as new starting quarterback Jayce Nixon settled in after some mistakes in the first half. 
Nixon lost a fumble inside the Naples 10-yard-line, threw an interception on his side of the field, and missed some wide-open receivers in the first two quarters. 
But those jitters dissipated in the second half as he brought Venice back from a 17-7 deficit with touchdown passes of 12 and 22 yards. 
He finished with 15-of-27 passing for 177 yards. 
“We had a lot of first-half jitters,” Venice coach John Peacock said. “I’m glad we got that out of the way. Jayce had a much better second half than the first half. Macho (Dorian Irving-Jones) ran the ball extremely hard and ran behind his pads.
“(Naples) is a good football team, and I thought the defense played excellent besides that one run at the end of the second quarter. But other than that, we have a good base to build off of.”
Naples stuck to the ground on offense for the entirety of the night, and for good reason. 
Not only did the Golden Eagles have returning 2,000-yard rusher Shawn Simeon to rely on, but they also had a quarterback who had never taken a varsity snap at the position before.
Simeon rushed the ball 22 times for 216 yards and two touchdowns – with runs of 71 and 65 yards – as he powered the offense.
“That’s what Shawn does,” Naples coach Rick Martin said. “We know Shawn’s a really special player for us. It’s hard even in games like this where you want to save him for the regular season, but he’s such a competitor, he won’t let you take him out.”
Quarterback Alijah Molina, a defensive back last season, rushed 15 times for 46 yards and did not attempt a pass.
The rising-junior had just 15 days of practice as a quarterback as Martin and his staff had to make a quick adjustment after starting quarterback Carter Quinn transferred to Lely High. 
“I thought his performance was pretty good for what we had,” Martin said of Molina. “We had a fraction of time with him, so I was pretty proud with the way he played. It was just an instinct (naming him starting QB), watching him play basketball and do some things on the football field. We thought he was a good athlete and pretty savvy. I liked what I saw, so we’re going to continue to work with him.”
Naples helped Venice to open the scoring with five defensive penalties for 35 yards on the Indians’ second drive of the game. 
Venice finished off the penalty-ridden drive with a one-yard plunge from defensive end/running back Asharri Charles and held the 7-0 lead for much of the first half. 
That lead stayed intact until Simeon found some space.
The three-star running back found a hole in the right side of the Venice defense and burst through it for a 71-yard touchdown. 
One play later, Nixon threw an interception to Naples defensive back Eli Chery, and the Golden Eagles turned it into a 33-yard field goal from kicker Dariece Collins to go into halftime leading, 10-7.
Simeon and the Golden Eagles added to their lead one minute into the third quarter with a 65-yard rushing touchdown – going up, 17-7 – but that was all the offense could muster for the rest of the game.
A star-studded Venice defensive line featuring Charles, a four-star athlete, and Eli Jones, a three-star USF commit, held Simeon and Molina in check for most of the night. 
Venice, meanwhile, kept its defense well-rested for much of the night as Dorien Irving-Jones racked up 26 rushes for 146 yards and a touchdown, along with two receptions for 9 yards and another score.
“I am very happy with what I saw tonight,” Martin said. “Obviously, we want to come out here and try to get a win, but to come out to Venice and play an opponent the way we did, I’m very happy with what I saw.”
― Vinnie Portell

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