Braden River rolls South Fort Myers 41-13

On Friday night, the Braden River High offense had the South Fort Myers High defense flustered. 

After a Knowledge McDaniel fourth-quarter catch and run for a first down, which ended with McDaniel hopping out of bounds, one Wolfpack defensive back yelled at another for not making a tackle. 

"I have to catch him first," the back yelled in reply. 

McDaniel scored on the next play. No one on the defense could catch him or anyone else, and the Pirates won their regional quarterfinal matchup 41-13.

Senior defensive back Tyrone Collins started the scoring for Braden River, taking a bouncing punt 75 yards to the house.

"It kept bouncing toward me, and I saw an opening, so I picked it up," Collins said of his return TD. "I went straight down the sideline. I knew my teammates were going to make good blocks."

After forcing another Wolfpack punt, senior running back Deshaun Fenwick made the most of the Pirates' first offensive possession, rumbling through South Fort Myers' front seven and racing past the secondary for a 76-yard score. Fenwick added a goal line touchdown run later in the quarter, and another in the second half. 

Junior quarterback Bryan Gagg didn't need to do much, but did throw a touchdown to a wide-open Craivon Koonce in the third quarter. 

The Pirates let the Wolfpack hang around longer than Pirates coach Curt Bradley would have liked. Two sustained drives ending in field goals cut the Braden River lead to 21-6 at the half. Wolfpack quarterback Tyler Lackey added a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, but the Braden River second team was in the game at that point. 

"We got off to a really good start up 21-0," Bradley said. "Then we kind of pressed the cruise control button, unfortunately. (Against) a team like that, we can't do that. We can't do that moving forward."

Bradley added that he was proud of his defense for singling out the Wolfpack players who could beat them and shutting them down. 

The win means yet another matchup with Venice High Nov. 17. The undefeated Indians beat Saint Petersburg High 49-13 Friday night, and have beaten Braden River three times in a row — the only team to beat the Pirates in the last two seasons.