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Barron Collier, Naples hold signing ceremonies Wednesday; Gulf Coast's today
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At one of the many summer camps the Barron Collier football team attended last summer, the players brainstormed a set of goals for the upcoming season.
Win district. Make the playoffs. Be more aggressive. Achieve greater team unity. All checked off the list.
Five months after the final snap of the fall season, the Cougars can mark one more goal off the list: Get as many seniors into college as possible.
Six Barron Collier players signed letters of intent to play collegiately in a ceremony Wednesday in the school's media center. With one more senior set to pick between two schools, 14 of the Cougars 22 seniors from its 2007 4A-15 district championship team will play football at the next level.
“These guys,” coach Mark Ivey said, motioning toward the six seniors seated alongside their parents behind a long table, “are the reason all those things on the list happened.”
Wednesday marked the start of a busy two-day period for signings in Collier County. Naples basketball player Tyler Gubbrud also inked a letter of intent Wednesday, and seven Gulf Coast athletes intend to do the same today.
Barron Collier defensive end Kyle Van Duser joined teammate Cougar Norris as the school's two NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) recruits. Van Duser agreed to play for Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., on Wednesday, while Norris previously committed to Appalachian State.
Van Duser will not receive an athletic scholarship, but was given a special invite to walk on with the program. Liberty doesn't have open walk-ons, Ivey said. Instead, players must be invited to join the team.
Brothers Jorge and Juan Montes both signed with Mount Union on Wednesday. The Alliance, Ohio, school has won nine Division III championships since 1993. Jorge Montes, the older of the two, is a defensive lineman, while the younger Juan is a defensive back.
“It's good because we spent the past 17 years of our life together,” Juan said about sticking with his older brother in college. The two also will be roommates at Mount Union.
Also playing for the Raiders is Gulf Coast running back Anthony Pitingolo, who plans to sign with Mount Union at a ceremony today at the school. Pitingolo was selected to the Class 4A All-State Third Team after rushing for 1,095 yards and 17 touchdowns.
The Monteses and Pitingolo now go from district rivals to teammates, something the Barron brothers said doesn't bother them.
“As our teammate, I think we'll be able to overcome that,” Jorge Montes said. “We just want to win a championship.”
Also on Wednesday, Cougars defensive back Sonny James agreed to play at Methodist University in Fayetteville, N.C., offensive lineman Frankie Bray signed with North Carolina Wesleyan in Rocky Mount, and offensive lineman Nick Ross agreed to attend Campbellsville University, an NAIA school in Kentucky.
Though they're heading separate ways, Bray and James figure to see each other again. Methodist and North Carolina Wesleyan play in the same Division III USA South Athletic Conference and are less than 100 miles apart.
“He's on defense, I'm on offense,” James said of his teammate turned foe. “If he's pulling as a guard, we might meet each other.”
Today at Gulf Coast, receiver Ry Davis and linemen Charles Clairmont and Anthony Jackson will join Pitingolo in signing letters to play in college. Jackson will go to Division III St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., while Clairmont will attend Valley State. Davis has not yet made his decision public.
About 40 miles north of Jackson, Naples' Gubbrud will be playing basketball for Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn. The Golden Eagles' 6-foot-4 guard, who averaged 6.5 points and 5.5 rebounds a game last season, signed with the Division III school Wednesday.
Also at Gulf Coast today, three girls' soccer players will sign to play for Division II college. All three are headed to schools where players from other Collier County schools already have signed.
Jamie Takala will play for North Alabama alongside Naples goalie Alex McLay. Takala and McLay were named to the Daily News Girls Soccer All-Area Team in the winter. Takala had nine goals and 16 assists for the Sharks this past season.
Rachel E. King and Nina Cibula, meanwhile, head to Newberry College in South Carolina. There they will join St. John Neumann's Kelly Tripp, who agreed to play for the Indians earlier this spring.
Ivey said he expects lineman Alex Velasquez to sign with a college soon. The senior is deciding between joining Bray at North Carolina Wesleyan or playing at Augsburg College, a Division III school in Minneapolis.
Several of Wednesday's signees will meet up with former Collier County athletes at their new schools. At Liberty, Van Duser will play alongside former Barron Collier lineman Antonio Tassara. Tassara will be a redshirt sophomore next season.
Former Lely receiver Cedric Sanderson also plays for the Flames. Gulf Coast graduate Zac Kolegue punted for Liberty last season, but graduated this spring. Fort Myers' Al Bailey, a Mariner grad, and Brandon Duke, Evangelical Christian, also play for the Flames.
Cardy Alexis, a former Palmetto Ridge defensive back, plays at Mount Union and will be a sophomore next season. Gulf Coast graduate Vito Roppo will be a sophomore offensive lineman at St. Olaf in the fall.
















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WOW! what a difference a year makes...or maybe a new coach makes. Congrats to all on this wonderful accomplishment and enjoy your future athletic career.
#1 Posted by bciscrooked on May 1, 2008 at 10:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Go Sharks on that one ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
#2 Posted by crazyfred on May 1, 2008 at 11:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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