Inside Southwest Florida High School Sports newsletter gets you ready for this week's games

Ed Reed, Fort Myers News-Press
·3 min read

As we enter September, the fall 2022 high school sports season is in full swing.

And the Southwest Florida sports team is here to keep you up-to-date on all the action.

Hi, this is Ed Reed, and I'm the high school sports editor at The News-Press, Naples Daily News and the USA Today Florida Deputy Sports Editor.

This first edition of the Inside Southwest Florida High School Sports (Wow, a long name but it'll cover a lot of content!) newsletter is here. Thanks for signing up.

So what will you get?

Every Thursday we'll deliver our best stories, photos, and videos to your inbox so sit back and enjoy.

To get us started, we have football games on tap tonight and Friday night with some killer matchups.

2000 - St. Thomas Aquinas 41, Fort Myers 6: Fort Myers team physician John Kagan may have said it best following this state quarterfinal where Aquinas ended the 12-0 Greenies' season. "It's a curse," Kagan said. "I'm telling you, it's a curse. It's ridiculous." The Raiders extended their winning streak to 25 games and their postseason record against the Greenies to 6-0. Essic Sanders provided the only highlight of the night by breaking a 71-yard run for a score late in the game.

Fort Myers will play host to USA Today Super 25 No. 6 ranked St. Thomas Aquinas at Edison Stadium Friday night. It'll be the first time the old rivals will meet in 20 years. And the Green Wave will honor its 1992 team, possibly the best team in Lee County football history that had its run end by Aquinas, Friday night.

Other big games include North Fort Myers at Dunbar, Lehigh at Bishop Verot, and Naples at Venice as teams already start to jockey for playoff position. We have previews and predictions for all the games in Week 2.

You can also listen to our experts, Dan DeLuca, Dustin Levy and Alex Martin discuss last week's game, look ahead to this week and discuss all things SWFL high school football on the Inside Southwest Florida Football podcast.

We'll also keep you updated every week as schedules change and games end. You can find the entire 2022 high school football schedule updated weekly.

Barron Collier's head coach Charlie Maurer talks with Barron Collier's Carter White (22) before the FHSAA baseball Class 5A-Region 4 quarterfinal between Archbishop McCarthy and Barron Collier, Tuesday, May 10, 2022, at Barron Collier High School in Naples, Fla.Barron Collier defeated Archbishop McCarthy 3-2.
Barron Collier's head coach Charlie Maurer talks with Barron Collier's Carter White (22) before the FHSAA baseball Class 5A-Region 4 quarterfinal between Archbishop McCarthy and Barron Collier, Tuesday, May 10, 2022, at Barron Collier High School in Naples, Fla.Barron Collier defeated Archbishop McCarthy 3-2.

Although out of season, the biggest news of the week had to be Barron Collier baseball coach Charlie Maurer being notified his contract would not be renewed for the 2023 season.  And Collier County released its investigation citing eight violations by the coach which led to the district's decision not to retain him.

And here are some things you may have missed from earlier in the week. We released our football and volleyball Top 10 rankings and we are rounding up all of the week's non-football results, including video and photos of Tuesday's big volleyball match between Gulf Coast and Barron Coller, with our high school events file that will be updated nightly.

Gulf Coast's student section reacts during the FHSAA volleyball match between Barron Collier and Gulf Coast, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022, at Gulf Coast High School in Naples, Fla.Gulf Coast defeated Barron Collier in 3-0 sets.
Gulf Coast's student section reacts during the FHSAA volleyball match between Barron Collier and Gulf Coast, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022, at Gulf Coast High School in Naples, Fla.Gulf Coast defeated Barron Collier in 3-0 sets.

We also unveiled our top boys and girls golfers to watch for the 2023 high school season.

If you haven't, please join our high school sports newsletter, "Inside Southwest Florida High School Sports," where we give you our best high school sports coverage and the biggest news every Thursday. Just hit one of the links below:

Fort Myers: Sign up for Inside Southwest Florida High School Sports — a newsletter covering area sports

Naples: Sign up for Inside Southwest Florida High School Sports — a newsletter covering area sports

And if you have subscribed, thank you. We have plenty of high school sports ahead and coverage coming and you now have a key.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Inside Southwest Florida High School Sports newsletter