Lely Bombs Barron

Lely head coach, JJ Everage, is getting used to playing in running clock games. On Friday night, October 21, Lely played in their fourth running clock game in as many weeks when they traveled to crosstown rival Barron Collier and totally dominated the Cougars, 40-0.

In Florida, a running clock starts in the second half when a team takes a 35-point lead. It took Lely until the 1:53 mark in the fourth quarter to move the game to a running clock.

The Cougars (5-2) entered the game with a single loss, to Collier County kingpin Naples. Lely (3-4), coming off a 59-0 running clock loss to Naples last week, shut down every Barron Collier drive and lit up the scoreboard with a number of spectacular plays offensively. Lely running back Guerschom Guerrier bullied his way for four touchdowns and 187 yards rushing. Quarterback Jakeem Tanelus raced for 254 yards on the ground and was also effective through the air, completing six of nine pass attempts for 51 yards, including a nifty four-yard touchdown pass to tight end Wally Monpremier.

“After our showing last week against Naples,” Everage said, "to answer back like that says a lot about our team’s grit and character. I’m so impressed with the kids. We made some tweaks with defensive technique and it worked out for us. It’s all to the kids’ credit.”

Tanelus, the 5’4”, 113-pound dynamo who Everage moved from receiver to quarterback after the Trojans started off the season 0-3, continues to make amazing plays for the Trojans. One of his rushing touchdowns covered 81 yards. He had a number of big gains among his 21 carries. His touchdown pass to Monpremier with 11:56 to go in the first half surprised everyone and gave Lely a 19-0 lead. It was Monpremier’s first action as a receiver. While Barron Collier was undoubtedly looking for Tanelus or Guerrier to run the ball in, Tanelus instead hit Monpremier, who was standing alone in the middle of the end zone. The score set off a huge celebration by the Trojans.

 "I don’t think he’s stopped smiling yet,” Everage said with a laugh. "He was a lineman last week. We put a 44 on him and made him a tight end.”

Everage also had praise for Jayce Cora, a tall wide receiver who also sees time at defensive back.

"Jayce Cora is just a sophomore,” Everage said. "He transferred from Boston at the beginning of the year. He keeps getting better and better. You saw him lay out for the catch on the corner route. He’s a great target.”

Lely’s win is all the more impressive when you consider Barron Collier was rated as the second-best team in the county coming into the game.

“It’s nice to beat the second-best team,” Everage said. "I really tried to get the running clock earlier. It’s not rubbing it in or anything like that. We’ve had such a good rivalry with Barron Collier since I’ve been at Lely. This is the most lopsided it’s been. We showed some things on offense they haven’t seen on film. It’s hard for a coach to adjust on the fly. The offense was different, the defense was different. It worked out in our favor. It’s just a credit to our kids and our coaching staff.”

Everage was effusive in his praise of his defensive coordinator. The Trojans’ defense snuffed out a number of Barron Collier scoring opportunities. Lely came up with three drive-ending interceptions and a number of quarterback sacks. They also stopped the Cougars on downs twice.

"The defensive coordinator,” Everage said, "I don’t give him enough love. Richard Mackert called a phenomenal game for us tonight defensively. He brought pressure. It seemed like he knew their plays like he was in the huddle with them.”

Another player who Everage has moved to a new position came through with a number of big hits Friday night.

"Isaac Callier has finally found a home,” Everage said. "We had him at cornerback earlier in the year. We moved him to an outside linebacker and he played lights out for us. Hopefully, we’re starting to figure out our personnel and it’s starting to click just at the right time.”

Lely starts a daunting schedule of three games in nine days when they host Golden Gate (4-4) on Thursday, October 27. Hurricane Ian has forced the unusual schedule.

"We’ve kind of hit rivalry row,” Everage said. "Golden Gate and Lely have no love for each other. They’ve got a really good ball team over there. We had to move that game up to Thursday instead of Friday, because we had to schedule Bonita Springs (2-4) the following Monday. Then we have Immokalee (4-3) that Friday.”