Football: Neumann's victory caps off 5-5 season

LAKELAND -- Jonathan Lorenz's St. John Neumann teammates call him

"J-Load" and with good reason.

For much of the last four years, the senior has been the

backbone of the Celtics' football program. Thursday night in the

sweaty, happy aftermath of Neumann's 28-8 win over Sonrise

Christian, Lorenz finally let himself enjoy it.

"I think I've played 10 positions," said Lorenz, who took all of

two plays off Thursday night.

That's how life is at a Class A school just trying to get its

football foundation in place. Thursday night, that foundation did a

little of everything for the Celtics, kicking extra points and

kicking off, roaming the defense as middle linebacker and creating

holes for teammate Eric Bratt on the offensive line.

As he sat on the bench, drinking in the moment following a

remarkable 5-5 season -- three more victories than in the last two

years combined -- Lorenz admitted it wasn't always easy.

"It's hard switching three coaches in four years," Lorenz said.

"But we improved on last year and had a successful season. That's

all you want to do is get better."

The Celtics were the better team Thursday night, though the host

Seminoles (3-4) made them work for it. Sonrise suited up just 12

players, but took an 8-0 first quarter lead behind the strong

running of LeAnthony Fleming.

"Who would have thought that when we were in spring practice

with just 14 players, that we'd see a team that had less?" asked

Celtics first-year head coach Steve Howey, who had more than a two

dozen players in uniform for Thursday's finale. "But they have some

athletes. I thought we had to wear them down. That's why we went to

the no-huddle in the second quarter so we could wear them

down."

Neumann tied midway through the second quarter as Bratt bulled

over from four yards out, then collected the two-point conversion

on a pass from quarterback Alex Leeds.

It was just the beginning of another night at the office for

Bratt. He rolled up 176 yards and two touchdowns to finish the

season with over 1,100 yards. And he wasn't even going to play this

year.

"I was thinking about that last night," Bratt said. "Nothing is

better than this. I had such a great time. I knew if I didn't play

I'd regret it for the rest of my life."

Bratt made the final half of his high school football career

memorable, as the Celtics pounded away at the Seminoles.

Neumann took the lead on a one-yard plunge by Mike Riccio, and

with Lorenz leading the charge the Celtics finally shut down

Fleming. Bratt added an eight-yard run late in the third quarter

and Leeds hit T.J. Zynda for a five-yard score to close out

Neumann's season.

Bratt said he never thought the Celtics would be able to finish

at .500.

"At the beginning of the year, we thought two wins at most,"

Bratt said. "That's how it was here. Expectations were low. But I

think this is the building year where we get those expectations

higher."

Added Howey: "We want to be even better. Next year we want to be

7-3 and get more competitive in our district. We've got 22 kids

coming back and kids from Pop Warner coming in. And who knows what

else. Not everyone can be a star at Naples. Maybe kids who want to

play might think about coming here."

Neumann: 0 - 8 - 13 - 7 -- 28

Sonrise: 8 - 0 - 0 - 0 -- 8

Scoring

SC -- Fleming 7 run (Fleming run)

SJN -- Bratt 4 run (Bratt pass from Leeds)

SJN -- Riccio 1 run (Lorenz kick)

SJN -- Bratt 8 run (run failed)

SJN -- Zynda 5 pass from Leeds (Lorenz kick)

Individual Leaders

Rushing - Neumann: Eric Bratt 23-176, Mark Monzone 9-58, Mike

Riccio 5-23, Alex Leeds 2-21.

Passing - Neumann: Alex Leeds 3-6-1 50 yards.

Receiving - Neumann: Eric Bratt 1-39, Mike Riccio 1-6, TJ Zynda

1-5.