High school football: Fort Myers runs out of gas in regional final loss to Naples

Following an up-and-down regular season where it underachieved, Fort Myers High turned it on in the postseason to reach a regional final few expected them to get to. However, the Green Wave’s travels ended with them out of gas left on the side of the road in Naples.

Junior Chez Mellusi rushed for 161 yards and three touchdowns and Naples (10-1) squashed Fort Myers’ second-half momentum with two interceptions in the 36-9 victory in a Region 6A-3 football final Friday at Staver Field.

The two-time state champion Golden Eagles return to a state semifinals for the first time since 2015 and the seventh time under coach Bill Kramer. They’ll face nationally-ranked Miami Northwestern (11-2), a 23-15 winner over Miami Carol City, next week on the road at Traz Powell Stadium.

The Greenies, who haven't reached a state semifinal in 25 years, held an 18-13-1 advantage in the series entering Friday’s matchup. The teams split playoff meetings in 2015 and 2016, with Naples winning 37-26 at Edison Stadium two years ago and Fort Myers winning 28-7 at Staver Field last year.

“I wouldn’t call it revenge, because it's two different teams, but the guys who were on the field last year were really motivated by that. To lose like that is embarrassing,” Kramer said of last year’s game where Naples turned over the ball seven times. “They worked really hard in practice. It’s been weeks of that now where we’re working really hard. The difference is now we’re working hard and smart. You saw that tonight.”

Fort Myers ended its season at 7-4, where it had to replace high-end talent like running back Darrian Felix, safety Dawson DeGroot and linebacker Matt McQuinn. A return to a regional final after last season’s double-overtime loss to Charlotte didn’t seem to be in the cards.

The Green Wave struggled with turnovers most of the year and finished their season on a low note with a second-straight loss to Dunbar. But they regrouped and made their run with playoff victories over Palmetto Ridge and top-seeded rival North Fort Myers.

“Tonight’s not the night to reflect because you’re disappointed,” Fort Myers coach Sam Sirianni Jr. said. “You’re disappointed you didn’t play your best football. That takes nothing away from Naples. I just didn’t think we had the – it’s almost like I don’t know if we used too much energy along the way. We just seemed a little flat tonight.

“ … I’m sure once we get a chance to reflect we’ll be proud.”

After falling behind 22-0 in the third quarter, Fort Myers was able to make things interesting with a few big plays to turn it into a two-score game.

After Mellusi ripped off a 58-yard touchdown, Fort Myers answered with a Willie Neal pass to John Coleus in the middle of the field before the sophomore broke three tackles on his way to a 63-yard touchdown.

Darrun Smith then blocked a Naples punt that Golden Eagles punter Hugh Wilkinson was able to recover in the end zone for a Fort Myers safety to minimize the damage. That cut the lead to 22-9 with 5:09 left in the third quarter.

The Greenies made a stop toward the end of the quarter, but Andre Eaton picked off Neal in Fort Myers territory. It set up Mellusi’s second touchdown to put the game out of reach at the start of the fourth quarter.

D’Andre St. Jean followed with another Naples interception and Mellusi scored again.

“They were the better football team,” Sirianni said. “Physically they took it to us. That’s how it is in these games. Last year, we jumped on them and they wanted to have a shot at us again and they took it to us. You can slice and dice it all you want. They’re well-coached, they play hard. But they just took it to us up front. They whipped us both sides of the ball.”

Naples converted two Fort Myers shanked punts into touchdowns in the first half. On the first drive of the game, senior quarterback Jordan Persad-Tirone finished off an 8-play, 39-yard drive with a touchdown.

The Green Wave managed just three first downs in the first half.

With under a minute to play in the second quarter, the Golden Eagles started from the Greenies’ 38 and Persad-Tirone carried Naples inside the 10. Elan Sommala scored from 3 yards out with 47 seconds left. Persad-Tirone ran in the 2-point conversion to put the Eagles up 15-0.

“What they do demoralizes you. They move the chains,” Sirianni said. “We just didn’t play very well. It wasn’t our best effort.”

FM 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 – 9

N 7 | 8 | 7 | 14 – 36

First quarter

N: Jordan Persad-Tirone 7 run (Hugh Wilkinson kick), 6:43

Second quarter

N: Elan Sommala 3 run (Persad-Tirone run), 0:47

Third quarter

N: Chez Mellusi 58 run (Wilkinson kick), 9:42

FM: John Coleus 63 pass from Willie Neal (John Briers kick), 8:24

FM: Safety on a blocked punt, 5:09

Fourth quarter

N: Mellusi 12 run (Wilkinson kick), 10:04

N: Mellusi 5 run (Wilkinson kick), 8:24