LAKEWOOD RANCH — Jared Brinton said he remembers everything from that night three years ago when the Lakewood Ranch Mustangs made their last appearance in a playoff game.
The crowd was large. The play intense.
North Fort Myers sent Ranch home with a four-touchdown fourth quarter.
Brinton also remembers thinking this: “I thought we were going to go every year. The past two years I found out it was difficult to get to the playoffs.”
Brinton was a freshman who started at cornerback on the 2006 squad that lost 38-14 in the first round of the Class 5A region playoffs. Mustangs safety Danny Zarrella also dressed out for that playoff game but never made it to the field.
He wanted to, though.
“Oh yeah,” said Zarrella, who was called up from junior varsity for the playoffs. “But we had a lot of seniors at my position.”
Brinton and Zarrella, now seniors, are the only members of this Mustangs squad to experience the postseason, and both will start Friday when the Mustangs travel to Cape Coral to play the 10-0 Seahawks in the Class 4A-Region 3 quarterfinals.
Brinton has taken it upon himself to tell some of the other Mustangs what to expect.
A large crowd. Intense play.
Sort of what the Mustangs experienced when they traveled to Palmetto on Nov. 6 for the game that would decide the final playoff spot from 4A-District 11.
The Tigers were trying to ice the victory with a long drive in the waning minutes.
“We couldn’t make that last stop, and I was thinking I didn’t want the season to be over,” Zarrella said. “I didn’t want to go home.”
It looked bleak until Doug Snell blocked a field goal attempt and Harrison Skokos tipped the ball to Brinton, who ran it back for the winning points in a 17-13 win.
“I felt like I was the only one in the stadium, to tell you the truth,” Brinton said of his 75-yard run.
It was a play you never forget. A play that saves a season.
A play that sends a team back to the playoffs after a two-year layoff.
The Mustangs followed their playoff season of 2006 with a 4-6 season in 2007, yet a win against Manatee in Week 9 would have sent the Mustangs to the postseason as the district runner-up. They lost 24-7.
Last season began with nine straight losses, eliminating any chance of the Mustangs reaching the postseason.
Yet, out of the ashes of 2008 rose a solid defense, an improving offensive line and big-play capabilities on offense.
“We thought we could make the playoffs this year,” Zarrella said.
They have, and almost all of the Mustangs spent this week preparing for the unknown.
Good thing they have Brinton.
There is one more thing Brinton includes when he tells his teammates about the postseason.
“It’s fun,” he said.
What makes it fun?
“There are a lot of teams who aren’t playing football anymore,” Brinton said, “and we’re still playing, and we have a chance to keep playing.”
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