Lee County Florida to resume football this week

Sidelined for more than two weeks by the destruction caused by Hurricane Ian, a sense of normalcy returns with the games

LEE COUNTY, FLORIDA – Estero High School football coach Darren Nelson was asked Tuesday morning what it meant to get back to football.

Rather than answer himself, Nelson posed the question to his players. Their answer was resounding and decisive.

"Everything!" was the unanimous reply from the Wildcats.

Estero is one of 11 schools from Lee County that will return to the field Friday after Hurricane Ian flattened huge swaths of the area. The School District of Lee County is still assessing the damage and has not resumed classes.

Sidelined from the football activities for more than two weeks, members of the Estero football team aided Hurricane Ian relief efforts / Photo courtesy of Estero Football Twitter

However, the administration allowed teams to start practicing again this week, and games will be played Friday (even one on Thursday).

But not all teams are playing. The three high schools in Cape Coral, to the northwest of Fort Myers, won't have games.

Hurricane Ian's path went right over Cape Coral and tens of thousands of people still do not have electricity. The high schools in town, and their athletic fields, all suffered damage.

Some teams in Lee County, where Fort Myers is located, resumed practice this past weekend. It was the first time they had worked out together in two weeks.

Following the Week 5 football games on Friday, Sept. 23, some teams gathered the next day. But then practices were canceled the following Monday and Tuesday out of precaution. Then Hurricane Ian struck Wednesday, Sept. 28, bringing a record storm surge and 155-mile-per-our winds that has left some in Lee County without power still.

All Lee County teams canceled games in Weeks 6 and 7.

Collier County, to the south where Naples is, missed Week 5 but played games last week.

Although the Collier schools were allowed to play by their administrators, some couldn't find opponents on short notice. This week 10 of the county's 11 high school football programs will play.

With Lee County also resuming action, there will be 15 games in Southwest Florida this week.

Lehigh in eastern Lee County, which features the No. 1 running back in the Class of 2023 in Richard Young, will host Charlotte High. The Tarpons are returning to the field despite their home of Charlotte County seeing similar devastation from the storm.

Dunbar from Fort Myers gets to make its much anticipated trip to Valdosta, Georgia, for an interstate match-up against Lowndes High School. The Tigers (3-0) are undefeated but have played just three games thanks to a bye and a rainout before the hurricane.

Estero is the only other undefeated team in Lee County, and the Wildcats are the only 5-0 team in Southwest Florida.

Estero's road trip this week is almost as long as Dunbar's, yet it's for a district match-up. The Wildcats will take a five-hour bus ride to Key West for a Class 2S-District 16 showdown.

At least the Estero players won't miss any classes when they leave early on Friday. The Lee County school district said it hopes to resume classes Monday, but it has not finalized plans. The school system said three of its schools might have to be completely rebuilt following Hurricane Ian. District officials said they will open the schools that suffered the least damage first.

Here is the list of games in Southwest Florida this week, broken up by county:

LEE COUNTY

Boca Christian at Canterbury

Charlotte at Lehigh

Cypress Lake at East Lee

Dunbar at Lowndes, Ga.

Estero at Key West

Evangelical Christian at St. John Neumann

Fort Myers at South Fort Myers

Gateway at Bishop Verot

Gateway Charter at St. Stephens (Thursday)

COLLIER COUNTY

Barron Collier at Golden Gate

Community School at Bradenton Christian

First Baptist at Pahokee

Immokalee at Palmetto Ridge

Lely at Naples

West Broward at Gulf Coast