First Baptist goes for fourth straight regional title

Author: Zach Oliveri
Published: Updated:

When the lights shined brightest, First Baptist Academy freshman quarterback Brady Quinn shined. Quinn threw five touchdown passes to help the Lions beat Benjamin 34-20 to advance to the regional final.

“A lot of people doubted us didn’t think we were going to win,” Quinn said. “Just going out there and proving everyone wrong felt pretty good.”

The Lions started the season with a two quarterback system to start the season. In the win over Port Charlotte in Week 5, the freshman took over as QB1 at halftime.

Quinn explained how he saw his game grow from game one to now one win away from the state semifinals, “first time stepping on the field as a varsity was a little scared. But over time this season, I’ve been getting a lot better and just my ability to extend plays and get faster be more mobile.”

Standing in the Lions way are the Cardinal Newman Crusaders from West Palm Beach.

“They’re a complete team,” First Baptist head coach Billy Sparacio said. “You know they’re physical they’re super fast. Got a really good quarterback. They’re big up front. They’re physical so we got our work cut out for us. But I like our guys.”

First Baptist can capture its fourth straight regional championship with a win on Friday.

First Baptist safety Logan Bartley said, “just goes to show how successful the program’s been. What we put into it.”

“It’s an expectation that they should have for themselves and for this program,” Sparacio said. “You know for the coaches and all the guys that came before them they just, the goals are not achieved yet. We got more to do hopefully and we just got to take this one right now.”

Quinn said his mindset going into his first regional final game is, “just take it slow. Take a deep breath and go through my reads and do what I was coached to do.”

WINK News is the only station that has statewide coverage of this week’s regional final games. WINK Sports Reporter Zach Oliveri will be with First Baptist in West Palm Beach. WINK Sports Reporter Sylvie Sparks will be in Port Charlotte for the rematch between Naples and Port Charlotte.

The rest of the week’s slate includes Riverdale traveling to Manatee, Miami Northwestern hosting Cypress Lake and Bishop Verot facing Cardinal Mooney.

We’ll have scores and highlights for you Friday night at 11 on WINK News.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.