The Wandering Disciple

Venice, Florida: As we get deeper and deeper into playoff football, the field of teams gets smaller and smaller as we enter the Regional Playoffs, or the final four. The Venice Indians hosted the Bloomingdale Bulls in the Class 7A-Region 3 final on Friday night at Powell-Davis Stadium. The first half was a shoot out with both teams evenly matched with the Bulls heading into the locker room with a slim three-point lead. But halftime adjustments gave the Indians the edge with 28 unanswered points in the second half, leading the home team Indians to a 57-32 win. The Bulls got on the scoreboard first with a pick-6 interception by Levi Williams. A quick pass from Jon Catala to Quinton Mccoy on the PAT gave the Bulls 8-0 lead. Venice answered with a 70-yard drive capped by a seven yard touchdown run by Brandon Gregory, the Indians also completed a two point conversion to tie the game 8-8. Bloomingdale later forced an Indian turnover on a fumble marched the ball down the field, ca...

Venice, Florida:  A pack crowd including notable Venice football alumni filled into Powell-Davis Stadium on Friday night for Homecoming 2018.  Former Indian and Superbowl champ Trey Burton as well as last year's player of the year Bryce Carpenter watched this year's Indians crush their South Florida opponent Champagnat Catholic Lions 58-6. The Indians dominated the first half, outscoring the Lions 43-0.  Senior running back Brandon Gregory led the charge, giving the Indians 143 yards on the ground.  The Indians starters gave way to the reserves in the second half as they cruised to a 58-6 win. Click on the photo above to view my Indians/Lions photo gallery.

Englewood, Florida: The Lemon Bay Manta Rays opened their 2018 home schedule on Friday night with a district match-up against the neighboring Desoto County Bulldogs. The Mantas were looking for their first win of the 2018 season in front of their home crowd.  But the visiting Bulldogs were also hungry as they were looking to remain undefeated in the road. Lemon Bay opened the game by forcing the Bulldogs to punt and then marching down the field to score.Senior quarterback Trevor Hedges went up the middle for a 1 yard touchdown run. A successful two point conversion gave the Manta Rays a 8-0 lead. The Manta Rays later doubled their score on a 65 yard touchdown run by Devanta Roberson and a two point conversion to make it 16-0. The Bulldogs countered with an excellent punt return by Ethan Redden that went back and forth, side to side before hitting the end zone for a touchdown. But it was called back by a costly penalty.  But with 2:04 left in the first half, the Bulldog...

Venice, Florida: The capacity crowd at Powell Stadium was electric for Friday night lights as the Venice Indians hosted St Thomas Aquinas for the semi-finals of the Florida Class 7A football playoffs. The winner of this match-up would have their ticket punched for the state finals next weekend in Orlando. St Thomas Aquinas found the end zone first, scoring the first quarter on a defensive touchdown. Jaden Davis recovered a fumble and returned it 80 yards for a touchdown to give the Raiders a 7-0 lead. With less than a minute to go in the first quarter, the Raiders got three more points on a 40 yard field goal by Alex McCourt to make it 10-0. Venice got on the scoreboard in the second quarter following a ten yard run by quarterback Bryce Carpenter. St Thomas then answered with a 45 yard touchdown pass as Derek Wingo hit Nigel White for a touchdown. At the end of the first half, St Thomas Aquinas took a 17-7 lead into the locker room for halftime. The third quarter was all ...

Good luck to the Venice High School Indians football team as they travel to the east coast to face St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders in the Florida Class 7A Semi-finals. The undefeated Indians will have a tough battle against the Raiders who are ranked number 4 in the state. The winner will go on to the Florida State Championship at Camping World Stadium in Orlando. (Photo: September 23, 2016)

Venice, Florida: It was a battle of west coast versus east coast on Friday night at the Venice Indians hosted the Coral Reef Barracudas. The explosive attack of the Indians stunned the Barracudas as they had to take the long drive back to Miami after suffering a 68-0 loss. The Indians dominated both sides of the ball, putting on a big performance for the homecoming crowd. By the half, the Indians were sitting on a 61 point lead while holding Coral Reef to just one trip into the Red Zone all night. The Venice offensive attack was led by running back Matthew Laroche who had a big night, rushing for 190 yards and 4 touchdowns. In the air it was junior quarterback Bryce Carpenter who was 7 for 12 for 71 yards with the longest pass of the night being a 26 yard strike to tight end Aaron Hackett. Carpenter also chipped in with an additional 36 yards on the ground. While the offense was lighting up the scoreboard and sounding the canon, the defense was doing everything in their po...

Venice, Florida:  The weather may have been chilly, but the action of the field was hot as the Venice Indians hosted the Armwood Hawks in the Class 6A Regional Semifinals on Friday night at Powell-Davis Stadium.  There was a lot riding on this game as the winner will get their ticket punched for the Regional Finals and be one step closer to the State Championship while the loser will see their season come to an end. Coming into the game, Venice was looking to avenge their loss to the Hawks last season in the opening round of the playoffs.  But the Hawks came to Venice as one of the hottest teams in the league, only surrendering 23 points on the year and not giving up a single point in their last five games. The Indians got the ball to start off the game.  They marched the ball quickly downfield before a fumbled stalled the drive.  From there it only took one play to put the Hawks in the endzone as quarterback Noah Johnson connected with receiver Dennis Har...

Venice, Florida: The crowd was just as electric as the lightning that lit up the sky on Friday night as the Venice Indians hosted the Port Charlotte Pirates in the game of the week. What started as a battle of the top seeds in the region ended with a 35-6 win by the host Indians. The Indians won the coin toss and elected to receive the kick. The set the tempo of the game, marching the opening drive down the field. Langston Provitt punched it in from four yards out to give the Indians a 7-0 lead. After exchanging a few stalled drives, the Indians found paydirt again. This time it was quarterback Bryce Carpenter scrambling 56 yard on the option for the touchdown. The Indians would add one more before the half. Carpenter tossed it to Provitt who in turn would throw it 66 yards downfield to Noah Montgomery to give the Indians a 21-0 lead heading into the locker room at half time. A bolt of lightning across the field during halftime put the game into a lightning delay and e...

North Port, Florida: The Sarasota offense combined with a penalty happy officiating crew made for a rough night for the North Port Bobcats as they lost to the Sarasota Sailors 38-13 on Friday night at The Preserve at North Port High School. The Bobcats won the toss and elected to defer to the second half. The game looked to be a defensive battle as both teams exchanged punts on their first drives to start the game. But that was as close as it would be as Sailor offense jumped out to a big lead by scoring 24 unanswered points in the first half. The Sailors would march down the field to score on their second possession of the game. A 43 yard pass from Sage Hansard to Mack Dancer set up a 2 yard touchdown run by Marlon Mack to put the Sailors on the board 7-0. After exchanging stalling drives, the Sailors got the ball back via an interception. They marched down the field to score their second touchdown as Hansard went to the air to Marquis Zimmerman for a 1 yard touchdown pass to p...

North Port, Florida: The North Port Bobcats suffered a devastating 48-6 loss to the Riverview Rams in conference play on Friday night at the Preserve. The Bobcats defense could not stop the explosive Rams offense and were plagued by penalties and turnovers on offense, making for a long night. Meanwhile on the other side of the ball, the Rams were virtually flawless. Riverview wasted no time taking the lead. They won the coin toss and elected to receive. 67 seconds was all it took to reach pay dirt. John Evans rumbled 60 yards to score and give the Rams a 7-0 lead. After forcing the Bobcats to a three and out series on their first possession, the Rams offense hit the field again on a fast track to the end zone. The drive ended in a 26 yard touchdown run by Devontae Williams. Down 14-0, the Bobcats showed life on their second possession. After a touchback on the kickoff, the Bobcats put together a 10 play drive that took them down the field. The drive stalled in the red zone a...

North Port, Florida: Despite taking an early lead, the North Port Bobcats were unable to match the offensive attack of the Venice Indians as they suffered a 49-20 loss to the top seed in the division. The Indians struck for 28 points in the second quarter, leading them to their fifth win in a row. The Bobcats won the toss and elected to defer to the second half. On the first play from scrimmage, Brandon Engell recovered a fumble to give the Bobcats the ball on the 18 yard line. The drive stalled on the 6 yard line and Gasto Orsetti kicked a 21 yard field goal to give the Bobcats a 3-0 lead. The Indians answered back with a 67 yard scoring drive that ended with a QB keeper by Grant Flessner for the score. The keeper and the point after gave the Indians a 7-3 lead. The Bobcats forced another fumble to set up their second scoring drive. Quinn Bass recovered a fumble on the 26 yard line during the Indian’s punt return. The Bobcats drove the ball to the 8 yard line on a rush by quart...

North Port, Florida: The North Port Bobcats dazzled the homecoming crowd Friday night by defeating the visiting Ida Baker Bulldogs by the score of 34-14. After being shut-out last week, the Bobcats rebounded and scored twenty unanswered points and three shut-out quarters before allowing the Bulldogs to reach the end zone in the fourth quarter. The explosive ground game of the Bobcats led the way, finishing the game with 289 yard on the ground. Both Brandon DeShields and Devonte Bailey walked away with 100 yard nights. The Bobcats first drive began on defense when DeShields intercepted a pass on the opening drive of the game. The Bobcat offense then drove the ball 27 yard on 5 plays resulting in a 10 yard touchdown run by DeShields to take the lead 7-0. Then in the second quarter, the Bobcats struck again. After a Bulldog punt, the Bobcats began another scoring drive from their own 26 yard line. Eighteen plays later it was Tyler Griffith carrying the ball across the goal line to ...

North Port, Florida: The North Port Bobcats dropped their home opener against Desoto County on Friday night at the Preserve. Despite taking an early lead in the second quarter and holding Desoto to just one first down in the first half, a twenty point fourth quarter doomed the Bobcats, handing them a 20-7 loss. The Bobcats took the lead in the second quarter. The 56 yard scoring drive was capped off by quarterback Paul Balcomb scoring on a 3 yard QB keeper. The touchdown plus the extra point gave the Bobcats a 7-0 advantage heading into the locker room for halftime. The second half began much like the first half. Hard nose defense and running attack, kept the score at 7-0 until the midway through the fourth quarter. But that’s when things turned bad for the Bobcats. Th Bulldogs recovered a fumble by Antonio Washington to start the game tying scoring drive. Washington then ended the drive by throwing a 23 yard option pass to Dalton Green to tie the game. Another Bobcat turnover led to ...