Pirates football team clinches playoff berth

SARASOTA — Three years.

Three head coaches.

Three trips to the playoffs.

It’s been quite an uphill battle for the Braden River High School football team the past three seasons, but throughout it all, one thing has remained the same — the Pirates ability to come together when it matters the most.

“It’s been pretty tough losing coaches and everything, but we’re all sticking together and working as a team,” senior running back Oladepo Kolawole said. “We responded a lot tonight, and we’re still fighting.”

For the third-consecutive season, Braden River is headed to the playoffs. The Pirates earned a spot in the postseason with a 45-34 victory over Booker in a Class 3A-District 10 contest Oct. 29.

With the win, the Pirates, who improved to 3-5 (2-1) on the season, will finish as the district runner-up behind Southeast for the second-consecutive season.

“I truly felt led to be here with these guys, and every day that I’m here, I realize I made the right decision because I’ve never been around a group of teenagers that fight like this,” coach Don Purvis said.

“They just block out everything on the outside; and they focus on what they can control,” he said. “And that is very rare with teenagers, and I’m proud of them for that.”

Braden River took control of the game on their opening possession and never looked back. The Pirates torched the Tornadoes defense, piling up 490 yards on the ground. Kolawole, who rushed for a career-high 250 yards on 13 carries, found the end zone twice on runs of 35 and 69 yards.

Kolawole’s second touchdown came late in the third quarter to put Braden River up 38-22. Senior Michael Glover, the fastest player on the team, rushed for 134 yards and a touchdown. Glover’s 4-yard touchdown, following a 57-yard run by Kolawole, with 1:17 remaining on the clock preserved the win for the Pirates.

Initially, Purvis questioned whether to give Kolawole, who suffered an ankle sprain earlier in the game, the ball, but in the end, he listened to the pleas of his running back.

“He looked at me and said, ‘Coach, I’m ready to go,” Purvis said. “And I said, ‘OK, I’m going to give you the ball. Let’s see how ready you are.”

Senior running back Javar Baity rounded out Braden River’s rushing attack, racking up 106 yards on 13 carries. Baity scored on the Pirates’ first two possessions on runs of 14 and 33 yards and found the end zone again in the third quarter from 11 yards out.

Purvis credited the Pirates’ games against Manatee, Venice and Southeast with helping elevate Braden River’s ground game.

“We learned a lot from those games, and they toughened us up a lot,” Purvis said. “I think these guys were ready to play tonight and they learned from their mistakes.”

Braden River quarterback Steve Ross attempted just three passes on the night — the first of which came in the second quarter.

“There was a lot of misdirection,” Purvis said. “The quarterback did a good job of hiding the ball.
“I love to throw the ball when I can,” he said. “I’m not a run at all costs kind of coach, but I just felt like I would be out coaching myself if I went away from what was working.”

Braden River will close out its district season at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow night against Lemon Bay.

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