Dunbar, Evangelical Christian win Teams of the Year at Southwest Florida High School Sports Awards

Dunbar football and Evangelical Christian girls basketball won team of the year awards at the Southwest Florida High School Sports Awards, presented by Babcock Ranch, Thursday at the Suncoast Credit Union Arena. 

Other boys team finalists were Community School of Naples’ lacrosse and Barron Collier tennis. Other girls team finalists were North Fort Myers soccer and Seacrest Country Day volleyball. 

No Southwest Florida team had a more exciting postseason run than the Dunbar High School football team. The Tigers won three consecutive one-score playoff games to reach their second consecutive state final four. That included Kelby Tyre’s walk-off kickoff return to stun Naples 12-10 at Staver Field in the regional championship game. 

The Sentinels won the first state title in girls basketball in school history this past season, defeating Central Florida Christian 57 to 46 in the final. The team went 26-3 and outscored their opponents by more than 800 points. The state championship is the second in the career of head coach Dwayne Donnell.