By Andy Villamarzo
Hernando Sun sports writer
Week 9 of the regular season for prep football in the state of Florida began last week and we here at the Hernando Sun want to give you the Hernando County reader all the insight you can get during the 2018 campaign. We now take a look at the Hernando Sun Top 5 Prep Football Ranking heading into Week 10 of the regular season.
No. 1 Nature Coast (6-1, 4-0): Nature Coast took full control over Class 5A, District 7 with a 35-7 beat down of Inverness Citrus last week. The Sharks remain in the driver’s seat when it comes down to winning a district championship this fall. It’s very simple for Cory Johns’ club: beat Hernando and Lecanto. Nature Coast should finish the season as the 5A-7 champions and host a home playoff game.
No. 2 Hernando (7-2, 3-2): Riding a 3-game winning streak in what will be the biggest game of the year for Hernando, it will all come down to a meeting against Nature Coast. A win against the Sharks might be just enough to push the points needle enough in the Leopards’ favor to inch them right into the big dance. A loss will assuredly have Hernando finishing at 7-3 and missing out on the postseason.
No. 3 Springstead (6-3, 3-1): The Eagles are coming off a 54-7 blowout victory over Wesley Chapel-based Cypress Creek and now play in their final game of the season when they face Dade City Pasco. The Class 6A, District 6 matchup between the two schools won’t make too much of a difference when it comes down to the postseason points scale, as the Pirates only have two wins on the season. Springstead will need a lot to happen if they want to get into the postseason.
No. 4 Weeki Wachee (3-5, 2-3): There’s a lot of promise ahead for the Hornets as they begin to close out their 2018 season. Despite likely missing out on the postseason, Weeki Wachee will have a strong opportunity to finish off with four wins, as they have 1-win New Port Richey Gulf on the schedule as the final game of the season. The Hornets made some great strides this fall under the direction of Jacob Gray.
No. 5 Central (0-9, 0-6): The Bears are staring 0-10 directly in the face as they finish up the season with a game against Sunlake in the finale. Central had a tough go of it under first-year head coach John Warren and the Bears have a lot of rebuilding to do to turns things around.
Andy Villamarzo can be reached at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @avillamarzo.
