STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

More Lely High School

• Former Lely standout faces charges in S. Carolina
• Marco Island YMCA honors local sports personalities
• VIDEO/PHOTOS: Prep football: Gulf Coast provides final fireworks in comeback win over Lely

Share and Enjoy [?]

Steve Pricer has been around long enough to know that, sometimes, approaching from the rear is the best way to spot a weakness.

"When you get to the mountaintop," the first-year Lely coach said, "you've gotta be careful, because everyone down below just might see your ..."

The end of the saying, though not quite suitable for print, will have to prove true if the Trojans are to do what no local team has done this season -- namely, challenge Naples.

The Golden Eagles, up two spots to No. 8 in the latest state all-classification poll and ranked No. 2 in Class 3A, are 8-0 and have pounded Collier opponents by an average of 43 points per win this season.

More bad news for the Trojans? This game, potentially Naples' ninth straight win against an in-county program, represents the first in a series of goals this season for Bill Kramer's team, which would clinch District 3A-14 with a win in the 34th annual Coconut Bowl at Staver Field.

"Week in and week out we talk about business as usual," Kramer said. "Well, this is not a business-as-usual game. It's a rivalry game. It's for a district championship. It's the biggest game of our season. All that matters to us now is what happens on the field Friday."

The Golden Eagles coach, though confident his team of 31 seniors is well-prepared -- some of them were on the field in 2005, when Lely snapped Naples' record six-game winning streak in the series and knocked them from the playoffs in the process -- admitted the Trojans, fresh off a bye, might make for a worthier opponent than they've typically seen this fall.

The week off likely provided a few new wrinkles, after all, to a Lely offense that already boasts the area's top rusher (Fortinel Faustin, who has 1,039 yards this season at 6.8 a pop), and potentially its best pitch-and-catch combo in quarterback Mike O'Regan (county-best 17 touchdown passes) and receiver Dado Michel (25 catches, 7 TDs).

"They're more balanced than most of the teams we've seen," Kramer said. "They're gonna try to motion you into mismatches with personnel and they do a good job of that. Then on defense they're just a bunch of really good athletes. I believe they'll be the toughest team we've played so far."

Not that it's easy finding a mismatch with the Naples defense.

The senior-stocked unit has allowed 40 points all season, and has, one by one, held the county's top tailbacks (Austile, Elie, Pitingolo, Martineau) under 53 yards (Palmetto Ridge's Chad Austile had that high water mark back in Week 2). Even those numbers, scary enough, are somewhat skewed, since most teams tend to rack up what little yards they get while Kramer is inserting backups.

Not to worry, Pricer said.

His team is a few missed opportunities from being 7-1 (they lost fourth-quarter leads in losses to Barron Collier and Palmetto Ridge), and despite occasionally flashing its inexperience, they find themselves in the same spot as their more-touted rivals -- a win away from a district championship. A Lely loss likely means a three-way tiebreaker on Monday involving Golden Gate and Immokalee if the Titans beat Estero.

"We were hoping, obviously, to be going into this game assured of the playoffs," Pricer said. "That didn't work out, but now our kids know that they have to win. You hate to say that this is the season on the line -- it really isn't -- but for us, this is a playoff game. It's us and Naples, and we're not thinking about anything else."

LELY (5-3, 2-1 in Class 3A-14) at Class 3A No. 2 NAPLES (8-0, 3-0 in Class 3A-14), 7:30 p.m.

Key Players: Lely -- RB Fortinel Faustin, QB Mike O'Regan, WR Dado Michel, LB McKenzie Pierre, WR Justo Vasquez, DB Sanchez Faugue; Naples -- QB Craig Wingate, RB Greg Pratt, LB Layne McCombs, S Jack Swanson, LB A.J. Micieli, RB Carlos Hyde.

What to Watch For: The Golden Eagles' stiffest challenge to date. Of course, that's not saying very much, considering Naples has beaten teams by an average of 41 points this season. Lely, which has at times shown its inexperience (late losses to Barron and Palmetto Ridge, a 40-point drubbing in Immokalee) could just as easily become the latest blowout victim. To avoid that, they'll have to do something no one else has managed this season -- run the ball against a Golden Eagles defense that's allowed just 40 points. If Faustin, who leads Southwest Florida backs with 1,039 yards, helps the Trojans offense control the ball and opens up the passing game for O'Regan, then the 34th Coconut Bowl has the potential to be a memorable one. If not, it might go down in history just the same, but for all the wrong reasons as far as Lely is concerned.