Coral Shores and Marathon have faced one another across the line of scrimmage 55 times since their first meeting in 1970. Since then, the teams have played one another every year, sometimes more than once, with the exception of 2005 and 2014. The first hiatus was due to Hurricane Wilma, according to Marathon athletic director Lance Martin, who was the head coach that year. Wilma, plus a series of smaller storms, wreaked havoc on sports schedules, and the Battle of the Keys could not be played as teams had to make up district games first. In 2014, there was a torrential downpour, lightning and otherwise unplayable conditions.
For over 50 years, the teams have enjoyed a healthy rivalry, prompting both the ‘Canes and the Fins to focus their efforts for a win that means more than any other in regular-season play. Coach Ed Holly’s Hurricanes hold the slight advantage over Sean McDonald’s Dolphins; Coral Shores has won 29 of the matchups and is on a five-game winning streak in the series.
Both teams have looked forward to this game all season. “It’s going to be a heck of a ballgame,” said Holly. “It’s always a packed house and it’s always chippy – respectful, but chippy.”
He recalled his first Battle of the Keys, when he was fresh off a bowl game with Mississippi Community College. “From the minute I got there, everyone kept asking if we were going to beat Marathon this year. I was thinking that it was just one game in a 10-game schedule. I started to understand when a guy told me his kid was six years old and we hadn’t beaten Marathon in his entire life.”
That was 2011, and Coral Shores won that game, breaking an eight-year dry spell to begin the ‘Canes’ own four-year, three-game streak.
McDonald’s favorite Battle of the Keys memory came six years later, when Marathon faced what seemed to be insurmountable adversity. McDonald was an assistant coach under Paul Davis at the time, and his son, Jackson, was a junior.
“It was right after Irma hit the Keys. We didn’t know if we would even have a season. Some of our guys lost their homes. A few guys never came back after they evacuated and just moved somewhere else. Marathon lost its field,” he said. “We had about three weeks of uncertainty but we practiced anyway at the park. There was a little grass, but it was brown and really mostly dirt and ant piles. Our first game back was at Coral Shores. Winning was such a boost for the community. We had lost so much so that win meant a lot.”
So how will this year’s Battle of the Keys play out? This season, the ‘Canes are 5-1 while the Fins are 4-2. Against common opponents, both teams pulled off wins against Palm Glades Prep and South Homestead. Likewise, Florida Christian bested both teams. When it comes to those common opponents, the ‘Canes have put up 65 points and allowed 49. The Fins scored 102 and allowed 107, nearly half of which came from Florida Christian in their week two loss. But everybody knows that records don’t mean much when it comes to rivalry games, and neither team seems to have a clear advantage.
Coach Holly’s Hurricanes have been formidable on defense this season, allowing just over 10 points per game on average. The Hurricanes will need to be extra stingy if they hope to stop Marathon’s brutal single wing offense, which has been prolific this season, scoring an average of 36 points per game.
But the Fins’ defense has struggled at times, allowing an average of 35 points per game against predominantly spread-style offenses. Holly’s Wing T offense is yet-untested against the Fins this season.
As far as Keys matchups go, the last season all three teams played to create a true King of the Keys scenario was 2010. That year, Marathon earned one of its 25 victories over Coral Shores, but Key West dominated both teams in a pair of shutout wins. This season, Marathon and Key West are not scheduled to play one another, but Coral Shores will make the 90-mile trek to the Southernmost City to play the Conchs on Nov. 1 in their final game of the season. In the Battle of the Bookends, Key West holds an 11-1 advantage over Coral Shores, with the ‘Canes’ only win coming in a 47-45 thriller in 2002. That year, then-coach Jeff Meyers managed to win against Key West and Marathon in a 7-3 season for the Hurricanes.
As far as the Conchs vs. Fins record goes, Key West is ahead 7-2 in wins against their closest neighbor. Marathon’s only wins came in ‘07 and ‘08. In their first-ever win against the Conchs, Dolphin standout Sergio Howard took the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown to set the tone of the game, which was played in Marathon that year.
McDonald was at that game. “The stands were packed,” he said. “I was on Key West’s sidelines with Jackson, who was only six at the time. It was the only place there was any space and it was intense.” McDonald, who was coaching in the Key West Junior Football League at the time, added, “I was secretly rooting for Marathon to win.”
Martin, the coach for Marathon that year, concurred. “The sidelines were 10 people deep. The balconies were full of fans,” he said, adding that the estimated attendance was over 2,000. The following season, there was plenty of talking from both teams for weeks leading up to the rematch, which was played in Key West. Fins running back AJ Freeman tore up 225 yards that night to silence the trash-talkers. The celebration following the 21-14 victory was, as coach Martin put it, one of the “wildest scenes ever” as anyone fortunate enough to have attended the contest can attest.
Rivalry season on the gridiron will kick off this Friday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. at Coral Shores.
