NAPLES, Fla. — Sixteen high school football teams in Southwest Florida got to check the box of making it to the postseason. In round one, there were some crazy matchups, including Naples’ shutout over Parrish Community. Junior running back Shawn Simeon showed out that night and is this week’s ABC7 Player of the Week.
“I’m very grateful and blessed I have this opportunity,” said Simeon. “I know I’ve been balling out with my team and I’m so thankful for my O-line.”
“We got to give some credit to those big boys up front,” said head coach Rick Martin. “So we got to give some credit to the O-L and I know he does that, he’s great about that. But I’m extremely proud of him for just the work that he’s put in this entire year.”
Naples entered the regional quarterfinals with an 8-2 record, sitting in the top 5 in the area. Simeon has zipped up and down the field all season long, averaging 135 yards and two touchdowns per game.
“I think the cool thing last year was we brought him over to running back right before the playoffs started,” said Martin. “Last year playing linebacker for us and then coming over playing a little wide out, really this was his first year playing running back and then you know, having to battle through injury this year. He’s just had a tremendous season.”
In this matchup against Parrish, Simeon nearly reached a new season-high with 253 yards on the ground, and he reached the end zone four times in the Golden Eagles’ 42-0 victory.
“Honestly, it felt great,” said Simeon. “I was very happy. I was happy to do it for my team. But we all work together. I just went through the plays and everything and they got me to the endzone.”
“Hopefully what it tells about him is he’s getting stronger as the year progresses,” said Martin. “So I’m hoping that that helps us on Friday, but like I said, he’s one of those guys that’s just consistently gotten better every week. Purposely worked on his craft every week and it shows.”
Naples moves on to the regional semifinals as they host Port Charlotte on Friday night.
“I’m so excited for this opportunity,” said Simeon. “It’s a really big game. I just got to do what I did last week, bring it into this week and just go from there.”