Football: Region title on line for Indians

If tonight seems eerily similar to Immokalee football coach John

Weber, that's because it is.

His Indians host Clewiston at Gary Bates Stadium with the Class

2A Region 3 title and a berth in the state semifinals on the line.

And Immokalee has momentum on its side, as the Indians beat the

Tigers in the regular season. It's the same scenario Weber saw when

he led his Indians to the Class 2A state semis in 2000.

But tonight's game has one big difference -- this is not the

same Tigers team Immokalee saw in the regular season.

Two Collier County teams remain in the regional playoffs.

Immokalee (7-4) hosts a healthy Clewiston (5-5) squad and Naples

(10-1) hosts Tarpon Bay-East Lake (5-6) in the Class 5A Region 3

semifinals.

The Indians pummeled Clewiston in Immokalee's Class 2A District

6-clinching win, 46-21. Immokalee scored seven unanswered

touchdowns and rushed for 356 yards in the game.

But some of Clewiston's top guns, including starting quarterback

Robert Smith, are back on the field following injuries. Smith threw

two touchdowns last week in Clewiston's 24-14 win over third-ranked

Wauchula-Hardee County.

Weber says he sees a lot of his team in coach Tommy Morrell's

Tigers.

"They're a lot like us," he says.

"They can play well and they can play poorly. Hopefully we both

can play very well."

Immokalee has mirrored Clewiston on the injured list as

well.

The Indians were bitten by both the injury and flu bugs in the

last few weeks. It didn't stop them from rolling over Cocoa Beach

43-8. Running back Javarris James has been healthy and looked

healthy against Cocoa Beach, running for 140 yards and three

touchdowns.

Weber knows the Tigers will have their eye on James this

game.

"They played a different defense against Hardee last week," he

says. "They came out in a '50' and they'll probably come out in a

'50' against us to try and stop the run."

Immokalee also gets back speedy running back Larry Hicks and

linebacker Mark Joseph.

While the Indians prepared for powerful Clewiston, the Golden

Eagles got ready for the less-imposing East Lake Eagles, who

entered the playoffs with a 4-6 record and needed to erase an

11-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat 5-5 St.

Petersburg-Northeast.

Naples recovered from a physical 19-14 win over Bradenton-

Manatee last week and have the prospect of playing a tough Venice

team next week for the regional title. Naples coach Bill Kramer

says his team won't look past this week.

"The players have to realize they're playing a one-week season,"

he says. "(East Lake has) a pretty good quarterback and a good

fullback-middle linebacker.

They play hard and play together."

That fullback-linebacker, Leo Deartiaga, was the linchpin in

East Lake's comeback win over Northeast. He rushed for 143 yards

and kept the clock rolling.

This week, his task gets tougher.

The Golden Eagles defense has five shutouts this season and got

a boost from last week's performance against Manatee.

One of Naples' scores was an interception Jonathan Eugene

returned 88 yards for a touchdown.

"It was nice to play a close game," Kramer says. "It gave us

confidence on both sides of the ball. They made the plays when they

had to. The kids stayed composed and focused against a good

team."