Trojans Can't Overcome Six Turnovers

After Sarasota Booker shut out longtime local kingpins Naples High 42-0 on September 12, all eyes were on the Friday, September 19, matchup at Trojan Stadium between Booker and Lely. And since Booker blitzed the Trojans 62-0 in last year’s opener and is purported to be even better this season, it appeared Lely may be in for a long night.

But the Trojans defended their home turf ferociously on the night they celebrated Homecoming. And if not for six untimely turnovers, the Trojans may very well have toppled the state power instead of falling to them, 28-14.

"Oh for sure,” said Booker coach Carlos Woods. "If they don't fumble down there (near the goal line), it could be a completely different ball game. It's all situational football. You know it's all a chess match. And kudos to their coaching staff. They've got a really good staff over there. And those guys are coached up. We thought we could take advantage of certain things, and they took it away.”

Woods found facing Naples and Lely in successive weeks a challenge.

"Oh man,” he said, “there's some good football down here. I mean, taking on those two teams back to back, they have different styles. You're talking about a version of a Wing T offense in Naples. When you play Lely they have so many different challenges. It creates a lot of problems because you can't really get a bead on what they want to do in certain situations. That number one (Nino Joseph) is a really good running back. Both Naples (3-1-1) and Lely (2-2) do a really good job of establishing the run and being physical at the point of attack. So, I expect both of those teams to be playoff caliber teams. I told the team there’s a strong possibility we may face Lely again towards the end of the playoffs. I think Lely’s going to run through this deal down here. They're a really good football team.”

Lely coach Ben Hammer was happy with how his team executed the game plan to wear Booker down, despite missing two key offensive standouts, receiver Romeo Sararo and lineman Jeremiah Dieudonne, both juniors.

“Our general game plan is we want the play count to be as high as it can be,” Hammer said. "And our kids are used to practicing that way, playing that way. I think Booker only dresses like 38, 39 kids. Romeo was out. He was sick and just couldn't go. Then Jeremiah hurt his leg this week during practice. We still don't completely know what's going on with that. But Ty Collins played way more snaps because of it. All three tall receivers, Brandon Baptiste, Jude Mathurin, and Jayden Pino played a lot more snaps because of it. They all played pretty well, had some big catches, had some big blocks. Rodney Hygiene, a sophomore JV player, played the whole game for Jeremiah and seemed to hold up really well.”

Booker (4-1) has just one loss, at Auburn, Alabama.

“Booker kind of hasn't looked human until tonight,” Hammer said. "One of our kids, it might have been (defensive back) Trevon Charelus, said, ‘Everybody bleeds.’ Everybody’s got a weakness. Our kids did a good job of playing the game we wanted to play. We just turned the ball over too many times. Made a couple too many mistakes. Our players didn't fold. Not ever. Not for one second, not for one play. I’m proud of how hard they played. Specifically, our defense played lights out. I think it says a lot to how far we've come as a program that we have to schedule games that aren't completely local. Sometimes it's tough to get teams around here to even play us. It’s tough to fill the schedule.”

Lely scored first when sophomore quarterback Brady Quinn hit senior tight end Zephaniah Diamond for a 37-yard touchdown with 10:32 left in the first quarter. Diamond finished with five catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns. His second TD, a three-yarder, tied the game at 14-14. The Booker coach had high praise for both Quinn and Diamond.

“The quarterback is phenomenal,” Woods said. "He's going to be one of the top guys to come out in his class. Number 11 (Diamond) is a good football player. I can't believe he doesn't have any offers. He gave us some fits. We saw that he was a good football player when we were scouting him. He does a good job catching the ball in space. He has great hands. He’s going to be a good football player for whoever gets him.”

Quinn was 17-30 for 184 yards with two TDs and two interceptions. Joseph earned all 69 of his rushing yards on 24 carries against a rugged Booker defense.

"The kid's a stud,” Hammer said of Joseph. “Some college is going to get super, super lucky in two years. He's a monster."

In the end, it was Lely’s untimely turnovers that decided the game.

"Six turnovers were huge,” Woods said. "It just gave us the momentum and put us in some good spots, especially when we were in a bind when they were driving the ball. Those were huge momentum swings.”

It makes one wonder if the best team won Friday night.

“Hopefully, in a handful of weeks we'll be able to run (this game) back and find out,” Hammer said.

But for now, Hammer’s only concerned with Lely's district home game against Barron Collier (0-4) on Friday, September 26 at 7:30. Last season the Trojans scored 90 points against the Cougars.

“We just want to make sure we get one more than they do,” Hammer said. Booker hosts district foe Bradenton Bayshore (4-1) next Friday at 7:30.