Spotlight: NHS defense pumped up over nothing

Nothing means everything.

The Golden Eagles feature a unit that gives up points like a toddler gives up its favorite toy. Its five shutouts this fall are the most in one season in the 55-year history of NHS football. Its 7.5 average points allowed is the best in 18 years.

Success does not come from worrying about the score at the end of the game, but from the desire to dominate every play on the field.

Naples defensive coordinator Sam Dollar says his group's mission is simple. It's what the players shout every time they walk off the field.

Get the ball back, coach.

"It's the same as always," he says. "While we're out there, we attempt to get the ball back any way we can. It can be a turnover or a three-and-out."

The Eagles defense blanked half its regu lar season opponents, and none of them were gimmes. There was playoff-bound Lely and Barron Collier, with the area's leading rusher and scorer Moises Plancher.

There was Gulf Coast and its crew of gamebreakers, Coral Gables and its high-octane, pass-happy offense. Even 2-8 Cypress Lake had Curtis Hood, Dalton Julien and Kyle McClinton, all of whom could score on any play.

The "Dollar Defense" does this with eight to nine juniors in the starting lineup in any given game.

And some of those juniors are prime time players. Defensive end Spencer Adkins leads Southwest Florida in sacks with 10.

Corner Joe Cosimano is tied for the interceptions lead in Southwest Florida with five. Linebacker Cory Hogue is 11th in the area in tackles with 97.

The juniors' success has a lot to do with what they did as sophomores, Dollar says. Many of those junior starters saw a lot of time last season.

"It helped them figure out the tempo and the speed you need to play on Friday night," he says.

Hogue was on the junior varsity team last year and played his way into the 2003 starting lineup.

Once he got there, it was an eye- opening experience.

"It's a lot faster than JV," he says. "I know there are some big shoes to fill at linebacker."

When most people talk about the Naples defense, they talk about its speed. Dollar says it's probably the fastest defense he's had at the school. And that speed can create some big plays. It accounts for Adkins' three-sack nights against Coral Gables and Gulf Coast and Cosimano's three- interception night against Barron Collier. It accounts for plays like Cypress Lake's first one on offense, where Adkins forced a fumble, then Cosimano picked it up and raced 20 yards for a score.

But the unit's speed is matched by its desire, head coach Bill Kramer says.

"These guys love playing football," he says. "They love running to the football and causing havok.

When they're standing on the sidelines, they want to get on the field."

The defensive players say it is fun to run roughshod on opposing offenses.

"It feels like home," Adkins says. "It feels like where I'm supposed to be."

Defensive tackle Christian Perez says the defense is able to energize the entire football team with its play.

"It feels great," he says. "If the offense needs to take a while to get it going, they don't have to worry. The defense will hold it down."

Kramer says Naples' defense makes its great offense even better.

"When they play like that, it gets the offense more touches," he says. "The more touches we get, the more chances we have to score. We have the number one offense in Southwest Florida, partly because the defense plays so hard."