With prep spring football in its third week into practices throughout the state of Florida, we take a closer look at each of Hernando County’s five programs in the weeks leading into the spring games. The next team we take a look at is Weeki Wachee, which heads into its second season under the watch of head coach Jacob Gray. Weeki Wachee finished 3-7 in Gray’s first season at the helm and introduced a fast style of play from the spread offense. The Hornets go into their second spring under Gray and the team has higher goals and expectations this spring heading into the summer and beyond. We take a closer look at Weeki Wachee.
Offense on the rise
Weeki Wachee’s offense was one of the top yard gaining units in all of Hernando County, averaging around 350 yards per game. Much of that was surrounded around the talents of quarterback Vaughn Sykora, who heads into his junior campaign. Sykora had a solid 2017 season throwing the football, completing 53 of 122 pass attempts for 871 yards and 10 touchdowns. He’ll need to cut down on his interceptions (17) if the Hornets look to take the next step as a unit. Sykora will need to find a new favorite target in the passing game, with Shaun Young graduating.
Lean on Class
If there’s anyone just as important as Sykora is to the offense, its running back Sebastian Class. The quick running back totaled just over 1,400 yards of offense in 2017 and proved he can take on the workload. The Hornets lose Diante Thomas on offense, whom served as a switch back to Class, but the senior should have no problems carrying more of the load offensively on his shoulders. Class averaged an impressive 144 yards per game at an average of 9.5 yards per carry. Expect Class to eclipse those numbers this fall, with Weeki Wachee working a lot on the run game this spring.
Ball Hawks
Weeki Wachee’s defense wasn’t able to get to the opposing team’s quarterbacks very much last season, totaling five sacks, but something Gray’s unit was able to excel in was forcing turnovers. The Hornets picked off 10 passes and recovered six fumbles a year ago and that opportunistic defense will need to come up huge once again to give Weeki Wachee’s offense more possessions. Defensive back Amar Walker, who notched two interceptions last fall, is back in the secondary and he’ll be joined on defense by Trenton Pisarski and Klebert Charles.
