Three state championship programs for the Southwest Florida Team of the Year

Southwest Florida high school teams lined up during a busy 2020-21 high school sports season.

After a canceled spring 2020 season due to COVID-19, this school year had a delayed start with limited fans in the fall to kick off an athletics calendar marked with coronavirus warnings, cancellations, expires and quarantines as the world battled an invisible enemy .

For this reason, the Naples Daily News and The News-Press have selected finalists and will choose a Southwest Florida Team of the Year for the first time.

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With all the players and coaches, we decided to give a tip to those who did it best. The teams that weathered positive tests, quarantines, and rewritten schedules, and were able to go all the way and excel in high school sports.

The three finalists for the award are the Canterbury School boys ‘soccer team, Fort Myers High softball team, and the Gulf Coast boys’ soccer team – all of them state champions.

The winner will be announced during the Southwest Florida Sports Award Show, which will be posted on news-press.com, naplesnews.com, and YouTube at 8:00 p.m. on Monday.

Look to find out who wins, but here’s a look at each of the three nominees:

Canterbury School Boys Soccer

The Cougars cemented their mark in history by beating St. John’s Country Day 4-0 in the Class 2A final at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand. Canterbury became the first Lee County’s boys’ soccer team to win a state title since Cape Coral in 2011.

The Cougars were young with 10 juniors, nine sophomores and four newbies on the team and only two seniors, so they peaked a year before most people expected.

More:Could Canterbury compete in a row right after winning the boys’ Class 2A state football title?

Playing through the coronavirus pandemic can also turn out to be a cover-up title blessing. Apart from injuries, the team had to deal with quarantines in November and December and operated from game to game with different line-ups.

“We had times when we were missing six starters this year due to quarantines,” said Canterbury coach Kevin Schoensee. “They played tough teams and won, even under the circumstances.”

The team had an “all-in” mentality throughout the season. It didn’t matter who was doing the job as long as someone was doing it.

“That’s what makes our team special,” said Schönsee. “Both guys (Nick Hamilton and McLaren Baggett) had fantastic games (in the state title game) and it doesn’t appear on the scorers’ list. They don’t care. They’re glad they know they’ve made their contribution. And they get it As much appreciation and kindness from all the guys as from those who throw the ball in the net, your job is just as important, if not more important.

“I know it sounds clichéd, but we didn’t have that superstar ride. They were all excellent players and they all bought their way into the program.”

Canterbury’s list of state champions

Chase Johnson, Junior; Ethan Wiese, junior; Sam Schönsee, Junior; Jimmy Parker, Junior; Zachary Bevington, freshman; Nicholas Hamilton, senior; Landon Wiese, freshmen; Benjamin Cojanu, Second Year; Nicky Parker, freshman; Will Hall, freshman; Jason Kitzinger, Junior; McLaren Baggett, Junior; Ethan Javedan, Junior; Manny Pina, senior; Conor Thomas, second; Bryan Cruz, Junior; Julian Viacava, sophomore; Cameron White, sophomore; Walter Ballard, Second Year; Diego Monteiro, Second Year; Jayson Gordon, sophomore; Riley Johnson, sophomore year; Chase Alley, Second Year; Brayden Cathey, Junior; Harrison Ames, Junior

Fort Myers softball

Fort Myers overcame seven mistakes and dramatically won its second softball state title, 7-6, over Land O’Lakes in the FHSAA Class 5A State Championship game.

Green Wave Junior Catcher Haley Morales did a walk-off walk with loaded bases to take the title.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for the Green Wave was before the playoffs started.

More:Fort Myers rallies, starts with the Class 5A State Softball Championship

The team was closed for two weeks after two players tested positive for COVID-19 and all players and coaches were quarantined due to contact tracing. They were only released for training the day before the district tournament began.

If something was different on the timeline – the team waiting to contact officials, or players with less obvious symptoms – the team might not have made it back to the playoffs.

The time off the field, which included missing four regular season games, made the team hungrier than ever, said Senior Riley Sanders.

This year’s team wasn’t as high-profile as the Fort Myers 7A title-winning team in 2017, where every member of the team signed with a college at a certain level. This group had to claw their way into clutch moments and get through.

“I can’t believe it,” said Fort Myers coach Johnny Manetta. “What an incredible group of young women. If you had asked me at the beginning of the season if we would play in the national championship, I would probably have told you that you were crazy. Right before the districts close, all the adversities, this group just hasn’t stopped. “

Fort Myers State Champion List

Makayla Jakubuwski, freshman; Lexi Consolazio, Second Year; Chloe Wademan, sophomore; Maddie Kline, elderly; Madi Isley, Junior; Yanni David, Junior; Riley Sanders, senior; Molly Burch, Junior; Alaina Mixon, sophomore year; Julia Knowler, Second Year; Emma Ludlam, Junior; Kylee Vagle, sophomore year; Haley Morales, junior

Gulf coast boys soccer

Second year striker Marcello Maffei scored with 2:04 remaining in first overtime when the Sharks defeated the Plant Panthers 1-0 in the Class 7A title game at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand.

It is the third state championship in program history for the Sharks (20-3-2), the only boys or girls football team from Collier County to win a state title. The previous Gulf Coast state titles came in 2013 and 2018, but after trying gold that season, the Sharks did not qualify for the playoffs in 2019 and 2020.

More:Marcello Maffei’s overtime goal lifts the Gulf Coast boys’ football team to their third state title

This year’s team consisted of nine seniors, many of whom watched as the senior class celebrated a state title in 2018. They knew this season was their last chance to leave their own legacy and they took it.

“Our team adopted the same mentality as this team in my freshman year,” said senior captain Noah Nassberg, who sat on the bench in ninth grader when the Sharks won the state in 2018 in the past. This is our senior year – this is what we’ve been waiting for. Our team got along really well this year and came together. “

“We wanted to leave our own legacy on this school,” said Juan Martinez de los Reyes, a senior captain. “We didn’t want to leave it to the legacy of others. We wanted to build our own legacy.

“We wanted to play with everything. And we won. We are national champions. We left it on the field every second. “

List of Gulf Coast State Champions

Marco Barrera, senior; Juan Martinez de los Reyes, senior; Noah Nassberg, senior; Oscar Lascano, senior; Nemo Chibende, senior; Ethan Barber, senior; Joaquin Dominguez, senior; Yeremi Tatis, senior; Alberto Tinedo, senior; Anthony Donofrio, runner-up; Henry Lewis, Junior; Lee Rooney, Junior; Elio Eichelbaum, Junior; Matthew Herrmann, Junior; Chris Reid, Junior; Phillip Hajjar, sophomore; Sebastian Merhar, second year; Manuel Pacheco, Junior; Diego Martinez de los Reyes, Second Year; Ethan Hall, Junior; Jarvis Banks, Junior; Scott Mühlhauser, freshman; Ka’eo Brown, Junior; Jack Bammell, Junior; Caleb Peterson, sophomore year; Neil Maldonado, freshman; Shagga McHenry, freshman; Wesley Podos, Junior; Marcello Maffei, second year; Leonardo Adragna, junior

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