NORTH NAPLES, Fla. — Aubrey Rogers High School in North Naples is just a few months old; and on top of a brand-new building and courses, the school is working to build up its football program.
“It’s been kind of chaotic,” said Aubrey Rogers senior Tylr Rosenthal. “Week in and week out, we practice. But it’s great to see the growth.”
When the school opened its doors this year, the Patriots were born, becoming the eighth public school program in Collier County.
Building an entire team from scratch — not really an easy feat.
“The majority of our team is made up of freshmen and sophomores so a lot of them are either coming from playing a little football in middle school or no football at all,” said Aubrey Rogers senior Darian Alvarez-Garcia.
Head coach JJ Everage is used to coming into programs that have played together for years, with on-field chemistry and with designated leaders. He was the man in charge at Lely High School for four years before making the move up north. With seven total seniors on this year’s squad, he’s up for a different challenge.
“Most of them have never played before,” said Everage. “So you have to teach them how to be a student of the game, how to watch film, how to practice and things like that. So as you know, it’s been a struggle, not because of anything that the kids have done. It’s just new to them. And it’s really been Football 101, teaching them how to hold a football, how to tackle, how to block, how to do these things. Different coverages, different scenarios of a game, and we’ve just been repeating that process all throughout the year.”
Every day that the Patriots step onto the field, they are a part of history. But it’s a little bit different this week, as they just notched their first win in program history on Friday, defeating Joaquin Garcia 16-8.
“It felt amazing,” said Alvarez-Garcia. “Everybody was cheering, everybody was hyped. Everybody went into the locker room, we started playing music and everybody’s just there hugging each other because we’re all happy.”
To make it even better, they got the big win on Homecoming night.
“Words can never describe how proud I am of them,” said Everage. “That was totally their win. I’m so excited for them.”
There are always kinks to work out and things to learn, but the experience the Patriots are getting is one-of-a-kind.
“These younger kids are getting a lot of experience in varsity games,” said Rosenthal. “This experience, I didn’t necessarily get when I was that age. When I was a freshman and sophomore, I played JV, so they’re getting experience at a higher level. So when they’re juniors and seniors, they’re going to be a really good team.”
And the grind has just begun!
“I really want the entire team to look at this as a stepping stone,” said Alvarez-Garcia. “We shouldn’t just stop all the focus and all the dedication, hard work, because this is giving us a taste of what’s yet to come. We’ve got to keep working harder and use this as motivation for what comes next.”
Aubrey Rogers faces Canterbury on the road on Friday, October 20.