Article PhotosMICHAEL PISTELLA Mariner sophomore Jaylen Mitchell finds running room after catching a pass in the fourth quarter against Fort Myers. More photos are available online at: cu.cape-coral-daily-breeze.com.

It was an historic night for Fort Myers as they defeated Mariner 35-16 Friday at Tony McKenna Field – the school’s 600th win in football.

“There’s some irony in that it also is Sam Sr.’s birthday,” said Fort Myers coach Sam Sirianni Jr.

“To work my way up from water boy to player to assistant has been a great experience for me,” he said.

The Green Wave struck quickly to take the lead. It took one play and 25 seconds to score. On a flea flicker, Tyler Douglas found James Whitfield all alone for a 60-yard touchdown.

On their next series, the Wave drove to the Tritons’ 35. On a key play, Quinton Smith was stopped momentarily for a loss, but broke free and went 35 yards for the score. It was the first of three touchdowns by Smith. He also had runs of 17 and 43 yards.

He led the Green Wave with 151 yards on 12 carries. The Wave’s other runningback, Dalvin Battle, carried 22 times for 148 yards. The Wave gained 306 yards as a team.

Douglas completed 3 of 6 passes for 88 yards, all three going to Whitfield. They made the most of them because two resulted in touchdowns.

“Watching tapes of Mariner, they scared me.” Sirianni said. “We had to keep them off the field. To see where they have come from at the beginning of the season till now is amazing.”

Mariner gained 165 yards on the ground, led by Donovan McAmis, who had 92 yards on 13 carries. Quarterback J.T. Etnoyer was 10-of-24 for 92 yards with one interception.

After Fort Myers’ two quick scores, Mariner responded by driving 65 yards for a touchdown. Tyler Holowell ran it in from the 2.

Smith’s second score put Fort Myers up 20-7 at halftime.

Fort Myers added a touchdown in the third and fourth quarters, stretching their lead to 35-7.

Late in the fourth quarter, Mariner got the ball at their own 34 and drove to the Green Wave 4, but a fumble at the 2 seemed to squash the Tritons’ hopes of scoring again. All Fort Myers had to do was run out the clock. Instead, Mariner’s defense tackled Ronnie Moss in the end zone for a safety, and the Tritons got the ball back one more time.

Tyler Pigott ran the free kick back to the Wave 24, and the Tritons punched it in with Etnoyer sneaking from the 3.

“We played well in spurts,” said Mariner coach Chris Siner, “but they beat us up front on both sides of the ball. They got us on the first play, and I don’t know if we ever recovered.”

The teams endured two electrical malfunctions during the game. The lights went out and took awhile to cool and come back on, delaying the game by about 40 minutes. The same thing happened last year when they played at Fort Myers.

Mariner (2-6 overall, 2-2 district) travels to South Fort Myers next Friday while Fort Myers (4-5, 1-3) hosts Bishop Verot.

Fort Myers 14 6 8 7 – 35

Mariner 7 0 0 9 – 16

First Quarter

FM – James Whitfield 60 pass from Tyler Douglas (Hunter Williams kick)

FM – Quinton Smith 35 run (Zack Douglas kick)

M – Tyler Holowell 2 run (John Teeter kick)

Second Quarter

FM – Smith 17 run (kick failed)

Third Quarter

FM – Whitfield 17 pass from Douglas (Smith run)

Fourth Quarter

FM – Smith 43 run (Williams kick)

M – Safety, Ronnie Moss tackled in end zone

M – J.T. Etnoyer 3 run (Teeter kick)

Cape Coral 8, South Fork 7: Chalk up the Seahawks’ victory to the defense, which rose to the occasion Friday night in Stuart.

Trailing 7-6 late in the second half, defensive lineman Donald Dupont and linebacker Josh Monteagudo tackled a South Fork runningback in the end zone for a safety to provide the game-winning points.

“We did not play well at all, on both sides of the ball,” said Seahawks coach Brad Metheny.

The Seahawks drove inside the 15-yard line on several occasions only to come up empty, including a 37-yard field goal attempt that sailed wide right. The only touchdown came on Dustin Thibadeau’s one-yard plunge. The two-point conversion failed, leaving the Seahawks on the short end of a 7-6 score.

Cape drove to the 1-yard line again and turned the ball over on downs. This time, the defense made a play to seal the victory. The defense stepped up again with about three minutes remaining, stuffing South Fork on fourth-and-one at the Cape 35-yard line.

The Seahawks (7-1) play at Ida Baker in their final District 4A-12 game next Friday night.