Hernando County Week 2 Game Previews/Top 5
By Andy Villamarzo
Hernando County sports staff writer
All Hernando County teams except for Springstead High School started off their football seasons last Friday and it was a fast start for most clubs. Nature Coast Technical scored plenty of points against rival Central in a 60-0 blowout, while Weeki Wachee pulled off the upset against Inverness Citrus 25-0 and Hernando made it look easy when they rolled past Crystal River 33-0. Now we head into the Week 2 portion of the season for Hernando teams, with some enticing matchups on the slate. We bring to you the matchups, the top 5 poll, and the picks to click.
No. 1, Nature Coast (1-0): The Sharks started the 2020 campaign with a bang and that was by way of scoring a ton of points on rival Central in a 60-0 shellacking of the Bears. Nature Coast rolled up 166 yards rushing and 108 passing in the win and now set their sights over against Inverness Citrus. Cory Johns, head football coach for Nature Coast Technical, has a very talented team, but the Sharks first real test may not come until October 9th when they face Hernando. The real question now lies, how many points can the Sharks roll up this week?
Last week: 60-0 win over Central
Pick: Nature Coast over Inverness Citrus
No. 2, Hernando (1-0): We have now got a taste of what the Leopards bring to the table with Earl Garcia III at the helm. Tenacious defense and will run the football out of several different formation looks. It all about sums up to the same result for the crew out of Brooksville, as they rolled to a 33-0 win over a tough Crystal River group. The duo of Kev’on Williams and Contae Cason in the backfield has made their debut and insured their presence felt, scoring multiple touchdowns. Now the Leopards will face a much improved Weeki Wachee team from a year ago. Will this be a tougher challenge for Garcia III’s squad compared to last Friday?
Last week: 33-0 win over Crystal River
Pick: Hernando over Weeki Wachee
No. 3, Weeki Wachee (1-0): Let’s make one thing for certain, this is not your same Weeki Wachee team from 2019. The Hornets lost 46-14 against Inverness Citrus a year ago and it would seem like in a rematch from that game, they would inch a little closer. Nope. Chris Cook, head football coach for Weeki Wachee and the Hornets kicked the door down to start 2020, with his team rolling to a 25-0 drubbing of the Hurricanes. Now for an encore performance?
Cook’s team will face possibly one of the most talented rushing offenses around when they play against Hernando. It will not be an easy task going up against the Leopards, but the Hornets are better suited this time around.
Last week: 25-0 win over Inverness Citrus
Pick: Hernando over Weeki Wachee
No. 4, Springstead (0-0): The lone team to not take the field last week was the Eagles and that’s because of a Covid-19 case derailing the team’s start of the season. Unfortunately, Springstead likely won’t be able to start their campaign until next week when they face Weeki Wachee on October 9th, with the game against Crystal River postponed to a later date. Now we will wait in idle until Springstead gets on the field to get a better idea of what kind of Eagles team we might be seeing this fall.
Last week: No game
Pick: N/A
No. 5, Central (0-1): It was a rough Friday night for the Bears when they took on county powerhouse Nature Coast. Now Central has to regroup when they take on Lecanto this week and it has the outlook for a long season for the Bears. Losing 60-0 to the Sharks was tough, but finding ways to generate offense is becoming even tougher for Central. Lecanto should be an opponent Central has a somewhat better matchup with, as the Panthers have yet to play this season since last week was supposed to be their opener against Springstead.
Last week: 60-0 loss to Nature Coast
Pick: Lecanto over Central
Andy Villamarzo can be reached at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @avillamarzo.
