By Andy Villamarzo
Hernando Sun sports staff writer
The regular season for prep football in Hernando County heads into the final week of regular season action and last week’s Week 10 play had upsets occur throughout. Nature Coast already clinched themselves a district championship but were upset by Hernando while undefeated Springstead went on the road to lose its first game of the year to Lake Minneola. Not all five of Hernando County’s squads will be back in action this week and teams will be completing the 2019 season after this Friday. We take a closer look at all of the Week 11 regular season matchups on tap for Friday night.
Springstead (8-1) at Central (3-6): The dreams of an undefeated season for Springstead became no more when they went on the road last week to face Lake Minneola and ended up falling 26-21 for the Class 6A, District 5 championship. There’s no time to bask in the loss, as the Eagles still have aspirations to make a strong run towards clinching a postseason berth and will look to close out the season strong when they hit the road to face Central. After beginning the season with three straight victories, the Bears have dropped six in a row since then and now are facing the real prospects of losing a seventh against arguably Hernando County’s best team. If Springstead is going to get back on track, they need a solid outing by running back Anthony Alexis, whom has been the workhorse all year in the backfield. Central has and will continue to rely upon the running talents of tailback Contae Cason. Though both teams are heading in vastly different directions, look for the Eagles to come away with a win here at the Bears’ Den.
St. Petersburg Northeast (6-3) at Weeki Wachee (2-7): With only three out of the five Hernando County teams playing this week, Weeki Wachee is the other club hosting a game and they’ll finish off the 2019 season by hosting a very talented St. Petersburg Northeast bunch coming into town. The Vikings have had a nice bounce back season under the direction of head coach Jeremy Frioud. Northeast is coming off a 35-21 victory over St. Petersburg and the Vikings are aiming to finish the season 7-3 and should have a good chance to do so. The Hornets, however, will be coming into the game with some confidence after picking up win No. 2 on the season. Weeki Wachee was able to pull off a 21-6 win over Central last week and the Hornets have played better in the second half stretch of the season. Northeast still has a shot of making the playoffs, while for Weeki Wachee, this will conclude its first season under the watch of head coach Chris Cook.
Andy Villamarzo can be reached at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @avillamarzo.
