NORTH PORT – It was a night of firsts for a brand new high school, yet sophomore Curtis Bowdre’s first was one he’d rather forget.
He was the first Wellen Park player to touch a football in a game. He muffed the punt.
But everything that Bowdre and his Wellen Park teammates did after that first-quarter miscue – including an 87-yard touchdown return by the 5-foot-7 speedster on the second-half kickoff – pointed to a surprisingly game-ready roster as the Eagles pulled away for a 45-7 preseason victory over new rival North Port on Friday, Aug. 14.
First, some more firsts: Jason and Nichole Wireman, proud parents of sophomore quarterback Noah Wireman, were the first fans in line when the gates opened almost two hours before game time. Jacob Hyer, a 22-year-old senior at the University of West Florida and son of head coach Sascha Hyer, sang the National Anthem.
There were “Inaugural Game” T-shirts and shiny game programs with lots of advertising. A bell in the end zone rings every time one of the local heroes does something worth celebrating. Decorative posters lined a fence, honoring 13 seniors in the “Class of 2026” (oops), and there was even a pre-game helicopter flyover. When Eagles kicker Donovan Childers finally put boot to ball at 7:31 p.m., a football program was born.
Bowdre’s fumbled punt came after North Port went three-and-out on the game’s opening possession, and a nervous Wellen Park offense did little when it got its first chance. Instead, Cameron Wilson’s 13-yard TD pass to Zachary Patchell – four plays after his 42-yard hookup with senior Caleb Lawrence – staked the visiting Bobcats to a 7-0 lead with 4:32 left in the first quarter.
By the time Bowdre fielded the second-half kickoff, though, Wellen Park had totally flipped the script and comfortably led 24-7. But his sizzling “school record,” end-to-end dash was the most electrifying moment on a night with plenty of buzz.
“I had to get it back,” said the 150-pound Venice transfer. “I had to make up for what I did in the first half.”
He reached the end zone again on an apparent 46-yard TD pass from Wireman (7-of-14, 191 yards, 1 TD) midway through the third quarter, but a teammate’s block in the back at the 4-yard line negated the points. Will Campbell’s 4-yard run two plays later, however, made it 45-7 anyway and triggered a running clock.
“Honestly, I wasn’t expecting this,” Hyer said. “You work for it, but when you’re dealing with 15-to-17-year-olds, you don’t know what’s going to transpire. That first quarter, I was thinking, ‘Wow, we’re in a dogfight.’”
Once settled in, Wellen Park scored five touchdowns and a field goal on six drives, including an 11-play, 59-yard march to answer Patchell’s early TD. Wireman scrambled 8 yards and Childers kicked the first of six extra points for a 7-7 tie.
“I came ready and focused,” Wireman said. “I don’t worry about a crowd. I worry about what’s on the field, that’s it. You could feel the momentum shift during the second quarter.”
Campbell’s 3-yard run on the second snap of the second quarter after a North Port fumble inside its own 5 gave the Eagles a lead that would last the rest of the night. He scored three times and carried 14 times for 73 yards, as Wellen Park churned to a 336-236 advantage in total offense.
“This is only one game,” Hyer said. “Obviously, I know that North Port has struggled a little bit. I get that. Our schedule is set up to where we can compete. Did I expect this? No. But a competitive game, that’s what I was looking for.”
Doors were opened and classes began just four days earlier.
North Port has only one winning season (6-4 in 2023) to show for 22 years of football, and is coming off a 1-9 effort last fall. Obviously, three turnovers and a staggering 24 penalties for 180 yards didn’t help.
“We walked into a game with a really good atmosphere and we made some mistakes,” Bobcats coach Devon Gales said. “We’re playing a preseason game. We’re looking to expose things as a team that we need to fix, and I think we’re going to have a lot of film to watch this weekend.”
North Port takeaways
Penalties, penalties, penalties. Those 24 flags for 180 yards will give Gales a lot to talk about. “That’s going to happen in a preseason game, the first game of the year,” he said. “Those are the things that you fix.”
There is some loyalty to be found in these Bobcats. Unlike so many North Port teams of the past, several key members of last season’s group are back, including sophomore quarterback Wilson (6-of-18, 159 yards, 1 TD, 1 int) and senior running back Ayden Guerra (six carries, 28 yards). “We preach to our players to be who you say you are,” Gales said. “And these are players who are loyal to our school and loyal to their community and stayed. We don’t want anybody other than those who want to be here.”
The clock is ticking before the real season begins. The Bobcats’ regular-season opener is a Thursday home matchup with IMG Academy State. “We do have an older team, so six days isn’t that big a deal,” Gales said. “We just have to sit down and look at the mistakes. We get another chance to play football on Thursday.”
Wellen Park takeaways
Establishing the run became a second-half priority. After managing just 54 yards on 17 first-half runs (including four carries for 26 yards by Wireman), the Eagles stressed the ground game after Bowdre’s kickoff return made it 31-7 – adding 91 yards on 14 tries during a 13-minute span. “We had runs, but there were maybe miscommunications with the running back or they bounced it out, they weren’t patient enough,” Hyer said. “I told the (offensive coordinator), ‘Keep running, it’s going to bust. Just be patient. It’ll be there.’”
Another first was Hyer’s first pre-game speech. Asked what he told his team before the historic kickoff, the Eagles’ 53-year-old head coach said he urged them “to have that chip on your shoulder. You guys are the kids that nobody wanted. … It’s not really true, but I tried to dig into them a little bit. A little anger. A little hatred. We’re not supposed to be here.”
The “Venice Effect” is strong. About 35 players at all levels in the Eagles’ program came from long-time powerhouse Venice, in addition to the half-dozen assistant coaches. Hyer had 47 players in uniform for the preseason game, but that Venice core – including Wireman and Bowdre – will be a season-long theme. “Realistically, when I look at our program, one kid from Venice (defensive tackle Collin Gilkerson) actually had varsity time,” Hyer said. “But they’ve all been playing together.”
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: It was a night of firsts for Wellen Park, including a first football win