Eagles Flatten Trojans in 49th Coconut Bowl

Lely was coming off back-to-back running clock victories. A diminutive new quarterback had magically reversed the Trojans' winless fortunes. After outscoring Bradenton Southeast and Palmetto Ridge by a combined 84-3, Lely couldn’t be blamed if they thought they could knock off Naples in the Coconut Bowl, the third-longest continuous high school football rivalry in the state. Alas, Naples rarely loses to a Collier County foe, and Coconut Bowl 49, played Friday, October 14th, wasn’t going to be one of them.

The Trojans were as dispirited against Naples as they were deliriously happy in their two wins. With over 10 minutes left in the first half, Naples led 42-0. With a running clock in the second half, the Trojans exited Staver Field 59-0 losers.

The Trojans (2-4) couldn’t stop the tough Naples ground game (346 yards). Naples completed only one pass, but that didn’t matter.

Lely’s diminutive quarterback, 5’4”, 113-pound Jakeem Tanelus, was as shifty as ever, but it seemed every move he made was met head on by a Naples defender. Lely’s standout running back, Guerschom Guerrier, earned tough yardage on the ground.

Lely actually held Naples’ star running back Kendrick Raphael to his only sub 100-yard game, limiting the four-star recruit to 91 yards. Raphael averages over 150 yards per game. He holds 26 offers and is rumored to be heading to Oregon.

Lely head coach JJ Everage took the loss in stride. He considers the strength of his foe.

“Disappointing,” Everage said after the game. "We can make all the excuses in the world, but that’s just a real good team. They’ve got three of the best backs in Florida, maybe. Defensively they played better tonight than I’ve seen them play all year. We had a good gameplan, we just didn’t execute. Maybe having two weeks off hurt.”

The Trojans may have lost some of their momentum with the long break.

“We started getting our mojo going with a couple of back-to-back wins,” Everage said. "Then we just had that long layoff because of the hurricane. We didn’t practice well all week. I tell the kids you play the way you practice. Actually I thought we had a good defensive practice this week. That just shows you how good they are. You can practice only so much with what you’ve got as a scout team. You can’t replicate what they’ve got in the backfield.”

The Eagles have won 13 Coconut Bowls in a row. Lely won the first Coconut Bowl in 1974. The series was tied after 24 games. Naples holds a 34-15 lead in the series.

Lely has a chance to bounce back at Barrier Collier (5-1) on October 21. Naples (6-1) hosts perennial state power American Heritage (7-1) on Friday.

Everage feels the Trojans still have a shot at the playoffs.

“We’re still in the hunt,” Everage said.