It's been a while

Hey Friends: So as the headline suggests, yes, it's been a while since the last time I've had a chance to sit down and spew out some insight as to what is going on in the prep sports galaxy of Collier/South Lee County, but don't worry about it.

Here comes a sporadic, erratic, and fantastic (OK, that last one is a little bit of a stretch, I know) look at some of the most important things going on recently, and what you all should be on the look-out for in the near future.

First, we have to take a look at football, so here goes a quick synopsis of what's shaking around the area:

GULF COAST
Man, this is a team that had a ton of promise, and now, due to injuries and other factors is falling faster and harder than a piano out of a sixth-story window. Last week they replaced pseudo-quarterback Korenzo Smith with junior quarterback Austin Massey and didn't get much more spark out of him than they would have leaving Smith in. However, when I look at how the Sharks have played, the dire quarterback situation isn't nearly as concerning as the way the defense has played the last two weeks, giving up 65 to South Fort Myers and 48 to Ida Baker. There clearly isn't an easy answer to fixing everything that is going wrong here for the Sharks, but hey, they only have to win against Cape Coral and Palmetto Ridge to stay relevant in the district.

SOUTH FORT MYERS
OK, I get that if anyone is reading this, they probably aren't from South, and probably don't care about Lee County at all. BUT South is the best team in our coverage area, and I am legitimately excited to watch them play against a tough Ida Baker team tonight. Forget the Coconut Bowl, South actually has play-makers and Baker has become the latest new school to hit the fast-track to becoming a power football program (much like South did!). You're going to be sick of all the Naples/Barron coverage next week, and we here at the paper are going to make it seem like that is the game of the year, but for my press-pass, Baker at South tonight is where you wanna be if you only make it to one game all season.

NAPLES
I'll admit, I'm impressed. I don't really see where the special sauce is coming from on this year's Golden Eagles team, but if I had to guess, I would say defense and coaching. This team takes on a different attitude with Jose 'Blue' Davila back in at linebacker. He was one of our players of the year last year, and after coming back from a broken leg, he's looking like he hasn't even missed a beat, and on top of that, he brings a swagger that his teammates obviously feed in to. He's probably going to finish this week's game against Barron with 20 tackles.

...speaking of which...

BARRON COLLIER
I think Cougar fans should be concerned about what happened to quarterback Mark Schoenfeld's knee at this point. An official diagnosis has yet to be given, and while last week he was throwing the ball on the sideline and obviously is off crutches, he's not in uniform. He's been the most complete quarterback Barron has had during Mark Ivey's tenure, and while Julio Gomez has taken a number of snaps at the position over the past few years, he's not the most accurate passer

That being said, here is my early prediction of how the Naples and Barron game will go down next week: If each team takes 50 offensive snaps in the game, of the 100 total, 85 of them will be runs up the middle between the center and guard. Get ready for a real barn-burner folks.

Also, I should tow the company line here and say get excited for all the exciting sports coverage around next week's game between the Eagles and Cougars!

...what a win it would be if Lely pulled the upset win in the Coconut Bowl this week, but I don't know if I would count on that. WR Matt Costello, who had been the team's most legit threat in a sub-par passing offense is no longer on the team thanks to an off-the-field issue. You can go read some of this week's stories about that to find out about that. Star RB Darion Hall is receiving fewer and fewer reps every week, but I would imagine the Trojans are going to try and force the offense through him this week.

A quick look at some other sports:

Of the big three volleyball teams in the area (Barron, Gulf Coast and Naples), Gulf Coast seems the most legit. Naples has a good middle block combination in Samantha High and Angela Faulkner, but the front line of Gulf Coast is pretty versatile and athletic. Plus, their setter, Angie Caple, is six feet tall and can help to try make blocks at the net in addition to setting up kills for Karina Mambuca and Holly Reschke.

I don't expect many of you to spend a lot of time out on the greens watching prep golf, so I will just remind you to keep an eye on what goes on between Barron Collier's Stephanie Carlozzi and Gulf Coast's Emma Smyser, not just this year, but for the next two after as well. Districts are coming up, and Carlozzi finished six strokes behind Smyser who had to pull a major turn-around of her game with four holes left to go in the Collier County Athletic Conference tournament.

Alright friends, I'll get back to you next week, but it's going to be pretty frantic with the blowout coverage we'll be giving to the Naples-Barron game... so be sure to check out all the stuff coming up on the site!

--Nick Krueger