Lehigh football prepping for second season under young leadership

It was only ten years ago when Lehigh Lightning head football coach Antwan Dixon was playing under the Friday night lights himself.

Dixon was a standout wide receiver at South Fort Myers when his father Anthony was the Wolfpack’s offensive coordinator so even though he is new at the coaching gig, he sees himself as an experienced one.

“I kind of got to watch how to go about it, how to be a professional, at a young age,” Dixon said. “It’s kind of like I’ve been doing this since I was little already. He was at South when I was well 10 to 13. I was out there every single day.”

Now, he’s one of the youngest head coaches in southwest Florida on one of the youngest coaching staffs, which is a blessing and a curse when it comes to working with teens.

“I have a love-hate relationship with it. They know I’m young,so sometimes I hate it because they take advantage of me being young, but I love it because I can relate to them.”

It was a quick turnaround when Dixon took over three weeks before last year’s season.

“Everything was in a rush. I felt like I had a cloud on my back, and it was just sitting there, and I couldn’t get it off.”

Now the cloud is gone, and with three months until kickoff, the young coach is confident in his team, as long as seniors continue to step up.

“They just have to help each other get to where they want to be by being leaders instead of just being friends that don’t want to say anything to each other when they’re wrong. Hopefully, we can get to that point where they’re holding each other accountable.”

The Lightning faces Golden Gate in a spring showdown on May 22 at 7 p.m.