High School Football: Barron Collier 28 -- East Lee County 18

We live very close to East Lee County High School, which is located in Lehigh Acres, FL. In fact, on a home game Friday night, we can hear the Jaguars' PA announcer loud and clear from our driveway. That's pretty cool. But I thought it'd be even better to take the kids to a game before the season ended. I waited until 6:30pm (one hour before kickoff) to make the call about this game. Though it had been rainy here all day, the rain had stopped by now and the late afternoon sky had even turned colorful as some sun started to peek through the clouds. Why not? So I packed some necessities and we headed to the game.


I could see the weather (or perhaps lack of interest by the students on a day off from school) had kept most fans away. The crowd was small. Visiting Barron Collier High School from Naples actually appeared to bring more fans and supplied the game's only band.



By kickoff the rain had unfortunately returned and weather would dominate the game. Jaguar junior RB James Holland's 70 yard touchdown kickoff return on a sloppy field was the highlight of the night for the home team. However, Barron's offense was far superior and senior RB Quin Thornton was the best player on the field rushing for 200 yards with both a rushing and a receiving TD. East Lee did keep the game competitive and used turnovers and special teams to hang around to the end.



The same could not be said of us. We finally left halfway through the 4th quarter thoroughly soaked. I figured the outcome was decided and we'd gotten our $8 worth for parking and admission. I think the kids actually more enjoyed the game because of the added element of playing in the rain -- both on and off the field! And thankfully being wet to the bones in SW Florida on a muggy October night is not a problem. In fact, it felt pretty good. I bet even the players agreed last night.