Nick Coleman was getting the oil in his car changed recently when he was approached by a man who wanted to talk football, specifically the Venice High 2000 state championship team.
If there was any doubt about the best football team in Indians’ history, the 77-14 final score in the Class 5A state championship game to punctuate a 15-0 season cemented it.
“A bunch of players who played together as a team,” said Coleman, at the time the second-year coach of the Indians. “They were extremely unselfish.”
The unselfishness began in the backfield, where Tre Smith and Ardell Daniels combined for a lethal 1-2 punch. “It was kind of a unique situation to have two backs like that,” Coleman said. “You could stop one of them, but you couldn’t stop both of them. Sometimes Ardell would have a big night because people were keying on Tre, and then it would be vice versa.”
There were a couple of nail-biters in the regular season: 21-20 wins over Bayshore and Naples, a 62-56 win over Charlotte in double overtime in a game the Indians led by 26 and the season-finale against Clewiston, when Venice rallied from a 14-0 deficit to squeeze out another 21-20 victory on its homecoming night.
In the playoffs, Venice faced a who’s-who of state powerhouse teams.
First the Indians beat Tarpon Springs East Lake 56-14.
Next they hosted a Lakeland team with 11 Division 1 players riding a 35-game winning streak. Venice prevailed 34-30.
Then it was a rematch of a regular season game against Manatee High, where the Indians squeaked out a 24-21 victory, ending Coach Joe Kinnan’s first stint with the Hurricanes. Smith had a short touchdown and two-point conversion with 7:25 remaining in regulation to erase a 21-16 deficit.
Pompano Beach Ely, a 34-0 winner over Miami Dr. Krop, was the next opponent and Venice’s first on the road in the march. Ely featured Tyrone Moss, the first running back in Broward County to eclipse 2,000 yards, and had not allowed a point in its first three playoff games. Again, Smith scored a late touchdown to pin a 24-20 loss on the Tigers.
“We played sound defensively and kept games close in the fourth quarter,” Coleman said. “We knew we had a chance, no matter who we played.”
That put the Indians in the state championship game for the first time in program history against Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer, a 35-23 winner over Gonzalez Tate in its state semifinal.
Venice punctuated its perfect season with a night to remember at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, and it placed a lasting impression on the state record books: Indians 77, Dwyer 14.
Venice scored 49 points in the first half, tallied 11 touchdowns, nine rushing, rushed for 427 yards and never punted against a team that came in with a 13-1 record.
“When we did get to the state championship game, we matched up well with Dwyer,” Coleman said. “Things went our way. Their quarterback threw I don’t know how many passes that just went over the receivers’ hands. Once their tent folded, man it was . . .”
After having three straight nail-biters in the playoffs to get to the title game, the Indians had a bench-clearing laugher. “We were playing kids late in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter that we just brought up to be part of the team, and they got quite a bit of PT (playing time),” Coleman said. “They didn’t know where to line up, but they were playing.”
Venice received national recognition. The Indians finished seventh in the USA Today Super 25 national rankings.
Smith, a junior, gained 181 yards on 22 carries and scored three touchdowns in the title game and was named Class 5A Player of the Year.
Daniels, who had 178 yards on 22 carries and scored four touchdowns (one receiving), enrolled in the Army at West Point and played for the Cadets and Hampton University in college.
Quarterback Shane Williams went 4-for-6 for 106 yards and two touchdowns and went on to play at the University of Tennessee-Martin.
Adam Gold made a state-record 11 PATs.
“It was a special bunch,” said Coleman, the Florida Dairy Farmers Coach of the Year who sent 16 players to college.
Ten years after the title game on June 25, 2010, the team held a reunion, where the team was inducted into the Venice Sports Hall of Fame.
“It was good to fellowship with those guys and see them with their kids now,” said Coleman, who stepped down in 2006 after eight seasons at the helm.
Now in the plastic business for a company in Ohio, Coleman misses the coaching sidelines. “Oh yeah. I still go up there and hang out with the boys, guys who worked for me and talked to the team once or twice,” he said.
