Naples Wins Soggy 50th Coconut Bowl

A hot and soggy night at Trojan Stadium did little to slow down the vaunted Naples rushing attack in the 50th Coconut Bowl Friday night. Naples scored early and often, thumping Lely 44-7.

During a steady - and sometimes stronger - rain during the first half, Naples jumped to a 9-0 lead on an early safety and touchdown. Then Lely struck with a beautiful 24-yard Colin Raymond to Gage Rice touchdown in the right corner of the end. Rice went up high to snag the pass and managed to barely come down with one foot in bounds. It turned out to be the highlight of the game for Lely, who gave up five more touchdowns in the first half. The game was played with a running clock in the second half.

The Trojans had no answer for Naples running back Shawn Simeon, who ran for 250 yards and four touchdowns. Simeon has 963 yards in eight games this season. The win was Naples’ 14th straight in the series, giving the Eagles a 35-15 lead overall. The Coconut Bowl is the third-longest continuous high school football rivalry in the state. Lely won the first Coconut Bowl in 1974. The series was tied after 24 games. Naples has won 23 of the past 26 Coconut Bowls. Naples and Lely are the two oldest high schools in Naples.

The Trojans came out strong, forcing Naples to punt on their opening possession, but when things went sideways for the Trojans, they couldn’t recover.

"We started off going blow for blow,” said Ben Hammer, Lely’s Head Coach. “You want to come out and find a way to win every week. Naples is a good football team all around. You've got to be physical. They're a physical team and they do a nice job blocking and running the ball. And I mean, obviously they've got high profile recruits like players that are recruited nationally. And we were on our way to having those kids and getting there. We've just got to do a better job. And it starts with the coaches on down to the players, but we'll keep getting better."

Hammer could find a few bright spots from the Trojans performance.

"For his first week back after being banged up for eight weeks,” Hammer said, "I thought JC looked pretty good. In spots we did give up a couple of big plays, but in spots our defense looked outstanding against them, especially up front."

Hammer also singled out the play of transfer Gage Rice.

“Really this is his first year playing big school football,” Hammer said. "He was at Marco Island Academy before this. Gage has gotten a lot better. And we've just got to continue to work, especially in the blocking game with him."

Next week Lely (4-3) hosts Barron Collier (5-2). Naples (7-1) travels to play state power American Heritage (5-1).

Hammer said it’s business as usual this week.

“There's no difference in the way you prepare,” Hammer said, "the way you get ready, the way you work, the way you watch film, the way you practice. No matter what, you've got to come out and try to get better the next day."