No problem, as they shook off the travel and time crunch, defeating the host Panthers 21-20 for their fourth straight victory.
“So we only got about a 20-minute warmup,” Nature Coast head coach Chris Hawley said. “We were like, ‘Hey, let’s just go. Let’s just play this thing.’ We started a little bit flat after the first series on offense and defense, and then we raised ourselves up, we kind of pulled ourselves out of the hole and we got after it the rest of the game.
“There was adversity we had to overcome. There were things like that, I think these kids have worked really hard in the summer especially when we do adversity periods and stuff like that, and they did just such a great job. All those things that we’ve worked so hard on to get these kids to be emotionally mature about things and overcome adversity, and it just kind of finally happened. We finally got a chance to really pull one out and we got to do it. So it just made the whole trip a lot of fun.”
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The Sharks (4-1) have had a lot of fun over the past four weeks, though this was their closest game of the season. Sophomore R.J. Jones tallied his eighth rushing touchdown of the season, quarterback Cashis Williams ran for a score and Zayden McKenzie returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
“Charles Liggett’s been fantastic working with special teams. He’s done such a phenomenal job for us and it kind of culminated a lot in this game,” Hawley said. “The first touchdown, they score and Brayden Hogan blocked the extra point. Obviously ends up being a huge part of the game that you don’t think about five minutes into the game. We made all our extra points, which has been big. (Placekicker) Jackson Dison has done a great job. Zayden takes the kickoff return back. Late in the fourth quarter, Cashis kicked a punt and pinned them down inside the 5.
“We’ve done a great job just playing complementary football. If the defense makes a big stop or we get scored on, then the offense can come back. The defense makes a stop when we’re struggling, special teams makes a big play. Just overall, every single part of the game for us has been working together and that’s been such a huge thing for us.”
Hawley added that defensive coordinator Allyn Williamson said, “It meant a lot to him that I was able to trust the defense to make a stop late when we pinned them back.”
That long punt by Williams was crucial as it happened with around two minutes left in the game. The offense had struggled in the second half, but Nature Coast’s defense came through with a fourth-down stop of Palatka (1-4) as 20 seconds remained.
“It was one of the more fun wins I’ve been a part of in a very, very long time,” Hawley said.
“Everybody was just fired up and excited because you could tell it was a hard-working win, which I think we hadn’t had in a while as a program, and the kids loved it. The kids, they loved that we won like that and we had to really grind for it.”
The other county football team on the road on Friday was Central, traveling to Umatilla. The Bears lost 55-6, with Kolby Zwaan providing their lone touchdown on a 2-yard run. Central fell to 3-2 on the season.
In volleyball, Weeki Wachee won back-to-back county matches last week. The Hornets defeated Hernando on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 25-10, 25-16, 18-25, 25-22. Marlee Schumacher had 23 kills and 15 digs, while Deliah Wascher totaled 25 assists.
The next day, Weeki Wachee downed Central 25-20, 25-17, 25-23 to improve to 11-4 overall. Schumacher led the way with 16 kills, 13 digs and seven aces. Kendyl Eastin added 20 assists.
Springstead defeated Nature Coast on Sept. 16, 25-15, 18-25, 25-17, 26-24. Paloma Verde paced the Eagles (10-7) with 13 kills, plus Mackenna Chambers had 24 digs and 33 assists.
In cross country, the Nature Coast Shark Invitational was held on Saturday. Junior Noah Carpenter finished second in the home meet posting a 17:03. The Sharks were fourth on the boys side with a 118, while Hernando Christian Academy came in eighth (187).
Sophomore Drake Koutsos finished 12th (18:50) to lead the Lions.
Nature Coast’s girls came in third (74), with senior Xianni Smith (23:37) and junior Sarah Reak (24:03) placing 10th and 11th, r... Click here to read full article
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