Port Charlotte (Fla.) eyeing state semifinal berth

A hobby the Port Charlotte High School football team likes to partake in together during the offseason is fishing and they’re pretty good at it to boot.

Not far from the high school is the Peace River, which serves as the natural boundary between Port Charlotte and Punta, home to their rivals, Charlotte High School. That very river is where a lot of the team bonding fishing take place.

Something this year’s Pirates are in search of as a team, as an overall objective, is taking the next step as a football program.

They’re fishing around in another way for a chance to reach a state semifinal and though they lost some key contributors from the 2024 team, Port Charlotte still remains a player when it comes to Florida’s FHSAA Class 4A state championship hunt.

“I think ten of out of fourteen years that a district champion has come out of our district,” Port Charlotte head coach Jordan Ingman said. “When Charlotte had their best teams, we were in district with them. North Fort Myers’ best teams, we were in a district with them. When it was Palmetto’s best teams, we were in a district with them.”

“So we’re kind of used to it. I think what it’s really done is it’s really good for the players because they know every day we got to work hard all year round because our district and our region is so tough. If we don’t, the teams around us are. I think it helps with our all year process of developing the guys because they take it even more serious knowing how tough the district, region and schedule is.”

First, they have to get over the proverbial hump of some regional foes that stand in their way.

One of those teams that always seems to catch the eerie of anyone tied to Port Charlotte athletics is Southwest Florida foe Naples, who has bounced the Pirates out of the playoffs the last three seasons, including a 17-10 decision in the region finals last year.

The tie in between Ingman and Naples’ head coach Rick Martin is the relationship both have with former Golden Eagles’ lead man Bill Kramer, who led the program to two state championships and amassed an overall record of 216-51 over the course of 22 seasons.

Both Ingman and Martin have coached under Kramer and it’s been an added incentive each time Port Charlotte and Naples square off in the postseason.

“Rick Martin is a good friend and we respect their kids a lot,” Ingman said. “Bill Kramer, who’s been very influential on our coaching staff, and coach Rick, we have a similar development structure that we go through in the off season.”

“I was talking to coach Kramer he called about five days after we got put out in the regional by them, and he said, I wanted to give you some time. (Kramer) says something that kind of stuck with me and I agreed with him. He said, you know, it’s a shame somebody had to lose that game. 
Because both teams played so hard and both teams played the game the way the game was supposed to be played. There was nothing cheap, it was two teams that were developed, that were strong, that do the right things, competing for the same thing. And unfortunately, we came up a play too short.”

The other program that Port Charlotte has more recently looked to build a little more of a natural bridge rivalry against is right down the Tamiami Trail foe and nationally-ranked Venice, who narrowly defeated the Pirates last year 49-41. The Pirates and Indians square off at Powell Davis Stadium on Sep. 12 in Venice.

“I would say Week four, when we have Venice,” Port Charlotte 2027 three-star quarterback Logan Flaherty said about the game he’s most looking forward to. “They came into Port Charlotte and they beat us by a touchdown last year. So we go up there to Venice this year. So that’s definitely a game getting a circled. I’m ready to go out there. I think really, we all are ready to go out there and compete and kind of show them that, like we’re still around, we can still hang with the number one team in the state, we can hang with anybody.”

Flaherty has helped built up the buzz around a Pirates program that’s still in search of their first-ever state championship. The junior quarterback in 2024 showed the ability to dice up opposing defenses with his arm, but also get outside the pocket and beat defenders with his legs as well.

Last year, Flaherty finished the season throwing for 1,403 yards, 20 touchdowns and on the ground added 842 and 13 scores. With the three-star prospect proving he’s a true dual-threat, expectations for the program and individually have come along with it.

A couple players that Ingman expects to step up this fall are senior linebacker Maddox Wittebort (35 tackles in 2024) and junior wide receiver/cornerback Sharod Williams.

With a handful of starters back from last year’s region finalist team that came a touchdown away from moving onto states, the goal is clear for Port Charlotte and that’s taking the next step.