Florida High School Football: Venice upends Port Charlotte

VENICE, Fla.- The debut of Howard commit Darryon Jones started off with a bang for Venice against Port Charlotte on Friday night at Powell Davis Stadium.

Behind 154 yards passing from Jones, the Indians were able to defeat the Pirates 29-22 in a battle for South Suncoast supremacy. Venice improved to 2-1 on the season and handed Port Charlotte (3-1) their first loss of the season.

Venice’s defense became the difference maker in the second half

What was at times a weakness last season for Venice has become more of a strength for the Indians as they leaned on the unit to shut down Port Charlotte’s offense in the second half.

For all the broken plays that were there for Port Charlotte in the first two quarters were not available to the Pirates in the second half. Though the Pirates were able to get on the scoreboard once in the second half, the Indians’ defense showed up when they needed to in the final minutes.

A fumble with less than six minutes to go gave Port Charlotte ideal starting field position inside of Venice’s 20-yard line. The Pirates got down to the Indians’ 1-yard line, but were not able to cash in as Venice made a goal line stand to hold on for the win.

“The defense was unbelievable tonight,” Venice head coach John Peacock said. “Again, (the offense) put them in some bad situations and we looked like a JV football team at times on offense and sometimes we look how we’re supposed to look. Saw a lot of good things.”

Logan Flaherty had a solid outing for Port Charlotte

The junior three-star quarterback has played really well this high school football season for the Pirates and add Friday night as another solid performance against a very worthy opponent in Venice.

Flaherty displayed the full arsenal with his arm and legs, accounting for multiple touchdowns against an Indians team that Port Charlotte fell to 49-41 last season. Though the offense was getting backed up on almost every series due to flags, Flaherty was still able to move the Pirates’ offense throughout the night.

The junior’s went for over 200 yards through the air and multiple touchdowns. Also added over 40 yards rushing on the ground.

When it comes to quarterbacks on Florida’s South Suncoast, the junior signal caller proved that he should be right at the top of best passers there is.

First look at Darryon Jones for Venice

Anytime you’ve only had less than a week to practice with your new team, there’s going to be some hiccups along the way. All in all for Darryon Jones, who had transferred into Venice at the beginning of the week, learned enough of the offense and was able to contribute against Port Charlotte.

Needless to say, Jones was effective, though the Howard commit had his moments. Jones threw an interception right before halftime that costed the Indians a chance at points before intermission.

What looks to be apparent is Venice head coach John Peacock is going to run the ball with Jones, who stands at 6-foot-2, 220 pounds behind center. Jones connected on a couple passes of 30-plus yards and scored a touchdown on the ground. Highlight of the night for Jones was connecting with Tyree Mannings on a 92-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter.

“He has elite talent,” Peacock added about Jones. “I’ve never seen someone pick everything up so quickly. He’s very, very, very intelligent.”

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