New Look Trojans Dominate Palmetto Ridge

It’s hard to believe the impact a 5’4”, 113-pound quarterback has had on the fortunes of the Lely High School football team. But seeing is believing. For the second straight week, senior Jakeem Tanelus has led the Lely football team to a clock rule win over a major opponent. This week it was Palmetto Ridge who was forced to play with a running clock in the second half after falling behind the Trojans 40-0 in the third quarter Friday night. A running clock starts in the second half when a team takes a 35-point lead. Lely ultimately spoiled Palmetto Ridge’s homecoming by beating the Bears 46-0.

The Trojans were 0-3, with their season on the brink of disaster, before head coach JJ Everage decided to try Tanelus, his top receiver, at quarterback against longtime state power Bradenton Southeast in week four. The pint-sized Tanelus has shown amazing escapability, a pretty good arm, and a strong command of the game since being inserted at the quarterback position.

Behind Tanelus’ leadership, the Trojans are believing in themselves. Suddenly they’re 2-3 and beginning to believe the playoffs may not be out of reach. Tanelus, who ran for 65 yards and passed for 89 yards and a touchdown, has affected the entire team with his play at quarterback. Some of Janilus’ best plays have come when he throws a ball away instead of trying to make a low percentage throw or taking a sack.

"He’s smart,” Everage said. "He knows it’s better to throw it away and play another play. You can’t take losses. You have to stay ahead of the chains. We teach it and he listens. He has a high football IQ. The kid’s just a winner. Don’t look at his size. He believes there’s nothing he can’t do. We made that move with Jakeem and that seemed to make all the difference. He elevates the whole team, offensively and defensively. Having him back there at quarterback, our players have confidence in him. That’s a huge part of playing football. You have to have confidence in your leader back there. Our offensive line, our receivers, they stepped up with him back there playing quarterback. We struggled at quarterback, and we know Jakeem’s just a great, great athlete.”

Having Tanelus at quarterback has been a boon to running back Guerschom Guerrier, one of the top running backs in the area. Before Tanelus was moved to quarterback, opposing defenses were able to concentrate on Guerrier.

"Having Jakeem back there helps,” Everage said. "Before everybody just ganged up on Guerschom. Guerschom is a strong, physical running back. He’s going to look to run over you. He’s not going to look to make you miss. He kinda started a little slow tonight. I had to get on him a little bit and tell him it’s time to turn it up. And he did. He answered the bell.”

Guerrier answered the bell to the tune of 173 rushing yards on just 13 carries and four touchdowns. He also made his presence felt at linebacker. He sacked the Palmetto Ridge quarterback in the second quarter when the Bears were making their only serious scoring threat of the game.

"Last year Guerschom was getting 30-40 carries a game,” Everage said. "He was a one-man show. This year he’s sharing those carries with Jakeem. It opens things up for him. It keeps him healthy. The boy can play some linebacker. He made that big play on third down. They were driving on us, about to score. Guerschom is just a physical kid. This is his first year playing linebacker. The first three years we used him only at running back. We saved him on defense because we already had enough linebackers. This year, I told him we needed him to play linebacker. He took to it like a duck to water. He just does things naturally. He can probably play for somebody at the next level at linebacker for sure.”

Lely hosts Bonita Springs (2-3) for their annual homecoming game Friday, September 30, at 7:00 PM.

 Everage is happy with the way his team’s playing at the halfway point of the regular season.

“It was a great team win,” Everage said, "defense, offense, special teams. I was proud of the team, proud of the effort. Running clock wins two weeks in a row. It’s just finding that chemistry.”