Donahue Academy Opens Sixman Football Season Friday

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Published on Monday, 23 August 2010 16:45

Rich Scanlon came to Ave Maria in July to work in the admissions department. He quickly wound up with a second job - coaching the Donahue Academy Shamrocks for their second season of sixman football.

Donahue Academy started playing football last fall, competing against other teams in south Florida who belong to the Fellowship of Christian Sports and Activities organization. The teams play a version of football tailored for smaller schools, featuring just six players on each side.

The sport is catching on in south Florida. There are three new teams in the area -- Canterbury School in Ft. Myers -- Donahue's first oponnent this year -- Oasis Charter School in Ft. Myers and Nicea Academy in Naples. Nicea will play its home games at North Park in Ave Maria due to a lack of facilities of its own.

Mr. Scanlon(in photo at right with Michael Dauphinais) brings a wealth of experience coaching football at the college and high school level, including stints at Harvard University, Greenville College in Ilinois, Southern Connecticut State and Springfield College in Massachusetts. But, like many coaches, he had never experienced sixman football before.

"I will probably learn on the fly," he said, looking ahead to his first game later this week. "The biggest difference between sixman and 11-man football is blocking," he said. The sixman offense has a quarterback, two running backs, two receivers and a center, who is also an eligible receiver.

The team has already had 20 practices and scrimmages in preparation for the season, and has "improved tremendously," Mr. Scanlon said.

"The final say is Friday," he added. "We'll have a better idea of what the competition is then."

The offense is led this year by freshman quarterback Cameron Joyce (left), who recently moved to Ave Maria with his family. Returning players from last year's inaugural season include running back Dan Scarnecchia, the only senior on the squad, co-captains Gabe Allan and Jake Schneider, and Julian Gonzalez, Chris Williams, Lane Lawe, Max Krepf.

Mr. Scanlon's goal is to make progress throughout seven-game season this year, "and from that standpoint, I like what we're doing."

The Shamrocks play their first game on the road, against Canterbury  School in Ft. Myers at 7 p.m. Friday. Their first home game is Saturday, Sept. 4, at 7 p.m. at North Park, and all are welcome. (Right, Coach Scanlon with the team).

Games are listed in The Ave Herald calendar, and the full schedule is below.

Donahue Academy Sixman Football Schedule (all games at 7 p.m.)

Aug. 27 - AWAY at Canterbury School, Ft. Myers
Sept. 4 - HOME vs Oasis Charter School of Cape Coral
*Sept. 11 - HOME vs Cape Coral Christian School
Sept. 18 - HOME vs Westwood Christian of Miami
Sept. 25 - HOME vs Nicea Academy of Naples
Oct. 1 - AWAY vs. Island Christian Academy at Islamorada
Oct. 8 - AWAY vs Miami Christian School
*[NOTE: The Sept. 11 home game originally was scheduled as a Sept. 10 away game against Cape Coral but the date and location was moved at Cape Coral's request]

Photos by Roy Lenardson