"Inexperience or mistakes have cost us," said Ahern, whose single-wing offense has posted 400-plus yards in four of its last five games. "We've been ahead of three or four teams, then we do something stupid to cost us the game. We've been competitive with the chance to win, and we just haven't gotten over the hump." -- Jim Ahern
See full story below:
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High school football Week 8:
Barron Collier hoping to finally break through at home
By DANA OPPEDISANO
Thursday, October 18, 2007
On the surface, first-year East Lee County has no business being compared to Barron Collier, one of the area's well-established and typically most competitive programs.
Funny enough, though, if you ask Cougars coach Mark Ivey and his Jaguars counterpart, James Ahern, what's gone wrong this season, you could practically substitute one's answer for the other's.
Turnovers. Mistakes. An unbreakable work ethic that's only occasionally translated into Friday night successes.
"One thing I'll give this group," Ivey said of a team that's been outscored 106-17 over its current three-game losing streak, "it would be real easy to tank it after the last three games. Any of the last three weeks, they could have bailed on us, but they didn't."
So chalk up an easy 'W' for a team that's absolutely starving for its first since Sept. 20?
Not so fast.
The consensus is that first-year East Lee County, winless over the first six games in program history, will surprise somebody this year. It was almost Lemon Bay, with quarterback Dalton Taylor's stuffed two-point conversion run the difference in last week's 30-28 loss.
"Inexperience or mistakes have cost us," said Ahern, whose single-wing offense has posted 400-plus yards in four of its last five games. "We've been ahead of three or four teams, then we do something stupid to cost us the game. We've been competitive with the chance to win, and we just haven't gotten over the hump."
The Cougars can relate, what with 13 turnovers helping three quality programs (Bartow, Gulf Coast, Naples) pounce on them. East Lee County isn't Naples, the local power that held Barron to 41 total yards in a 52-0 blowout a week ago, but the plan stays the same -- fix their own mistakes, likely fix their season.
"(The Jaguars) do have some athletic ability," Ivey said, "but the bottom line, regardless of who we're playing or their record, is that we've just gotta come out and play. The turnovers have to improve. We tackled very poorly last week and need to improve on that, and we need to get our skill guys going."
It starts with quarterback Vince Caputo, who starred in three wins to start the season but has completed just 29 percent of his passes for a combined 158 yards and three interceptions since. Ivey said he used tailback Quin Thornton under center for a series last week simply "as a wrinkle," and expressed confidence that Caputo can rekindle the passing game against a defense that's allowed 31 points and 115 passing yards per game.
"We've had a little offensive sputtering here, partly because of us and partly because of who we've played," Ivey said. "I still have great confidence in Vince. He's always optimistic, he's very bright, and he's our quarterback until he graduates."
The good news is that, despite their recent struggles, the Cougars' preseason goals remain dead ahead. Tonight's marks the first of three consecutive 4A-15 district games, and wins against the Jaguars, at an up-and-down Cypress Lake (3-3) and then at winless Lehigh (0-7) assures them of no worse than a tie for second, if not the title outright.
Of course, in order for that to happen, Ivey knows that the shiny new FieldTurf can no longer be the best thing to watch at Cougar Stadium on Fridays.
"It would be real easy to be downtrodden as their coach right now, but the kids continue to work," Ivey said. "If they do that, I still think there's some good things ahead for us this season. We were disappointed, but all we care about now is these three district games, and the only thing that matters (on Friday) is playing well against East Lee County."
EAST LEE COUNTY (0-6, 0-2 in 4A-15) at BARRON COLLIER (3-3, 1-1 in 4A-15), 7:30 p.m.
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High school football Week 8:
Barron Collier hoping to finally break through at home
By DANA OPPEDISANO
Thursday, October 18, 2007
On the surface, first-year East Lee County has no business being compared to Barron Collier, one of the area's well-established and typically most competitive programs.
Funny enough, though, if you ask Cougars coach Mark Ivey and his Jaguars counterpart, James Ahern, what's gone wrong this season, you could practically substitute one's answer for the other's.
Turnovers. Mistakes. An unbreakable work ethic that's only occasionally translated into Friday night successes.
"One thing I'll give this group," Ivey said of a team that's been outscored 106-17 over its current three-game losing streak, "it would be real easy to tank it after the last three games. Any of the last three weeks, they could have bailed on us, but they didn't."
So chalk up an easy 'W' for a team that's absolutely starving for its first since Sept. 20?
Not so fast.
The consensus is that first-year East Lee County, winless over the first six games in program history, will surprise somebody this year. It was almost Lemon Bay, with quarterback Dalton Taylor's stuffed two-point conversion run the difference in last week's 30-28 loss.
"Inexperience or mistakes have cost us," said Ahern, whose single-wing offense has posted 400-plus yards in four of its last five games. "We've been ahead of three or four teams, then we do something stupid to cost us the game. We've been competitive with the chance to win, and we just haven't gotten over the hump."
The Cougars can relate, what with 13 turnovers helping three quality programs (Bartow, Gulf Coast, Naples) pounce on them. East Lee County isn't Naples, the local power that held Barron to 41 total yards in a 52-0 blowout a week ago, but the plan stays the same -- fix their own mistakes, likely fix their season.
"(The Jaguars) do have some athletic ability," Ivey said, "but the bottom line, regardless of who we're playing or their record, is that we've just gotta come out and play. The turnovers have to improve. We tackled very poorly last week and need to improve on that, and we need to get our skill guys going."
It starts with quarterback Vince Caputo, who starred in three wins to start the season but has completed just 29 percent of his passes for a combined 158 yards and three interceptions since. Ivey said he used tailback Quin Thornton under center for a series last week simply "as a wrinkle," and expressed confidence that Caputo can rekindle the passing game against a defense that's allowed 31 points and 115 passing yards per game.
"We've had a little offensive sputtering here, partly because of us and partly because of who we've played," Ivey said. "I still have great confidence in Vince. He's always optimistic, he's very bright, and he's our quarterback until he graduates."
The good news is that, despite their recent struggles, the Cougars' preseason goals remain dead ahead. Tonight's marks the first of three consecutive 4A-15 district games, and wins against the Jaguars, at an up-and-down Cypress Lake (3-3) and then at winless Lehigh (0-7) assures them of no worse than a tie for second, if not the title outright.
Of course, in order for that to happen, Ivey knows that the shiny new FieldTurf can no longer be the best thing to watch at Cougar Stadium on Fridays.
"It would be real easy to be downtrodden as their coach right now, but the kids continue to work," Ivey said. "If they do that, I still think there's some good things ahead for us this season. We were disappointed, but all we care about now is these three district games, and the only thing that matters (on Friday) is playing well against East Lee County."
EAST LEE COUNTY (0-6, 0-2 in 4A-15) at BARRON COLLIER (3-3, 1-1 in 4A-15), 7:30 p.m.
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