Sharks Come Back in the Second Half, Chomp Bears

The Nature Coast Sharks (2-2) downed the Central Bears (3-3) by a 12-7 margin in a flag football showdown at the Bears’ Den on Wednesday evening. The low-scoring affair saw the Bears take a touchdown lead shortly before halftime and maintain it until late in the matchup. The visitors shook off a slow start to gain the lead late in the fourth quarter. Sharks Head Coach Ian Wald was pleased with the fight of his team and pointed to the disappointment following their most recent contest against Springstead.

“We had a tough game on Monday against Springstead and it was a tough loss,” Coach Wald said. “When you put that much effort into something, sometimes you can come out flat, and I think we did. We came out flat today and Central came out very strong and played very well […] but at halftime we made some adjustments, our girls did not give up. I am really proud of them for doing that because ultimately it reflected on the scoreboard in our victory.”

While the game was scoreless until just before half, that was not for lack of effort by Head Coach Joe Nestor’s Bears. They utilized various trick plays that often featured one or both of Seniors Trinity Allen and Rayven Bess-Marshall. Getting the ball to one of these playmakers nearly gave the home team enough production to win the game. The touchdown drive late in the second frame was set up by a pass from Junior QB Delanee Duncan to Junior Sharrell Burton that was handed off to Bess-Marshall down the left sideline to put the Bears on the doorstep. The next play saw Duncan deliver a five yard pass to Allen for the score. Allen also broke off a massive gain down to Nature Coast’s 25 yard line on Central’s final drive of the game to give them a chance to retake the lead. It would prove to just not be enough, though.

“We talked about staying home on their trick plays, focusing a little more on flag pulling, and not diving in on defense,” said Coach Wald. “We did not give up a score after that. We talked offensively about just keeping it simple, taking what they are giving us, taking the easy plays, and not trying to make something special after every play. Our quarterback simplified it. She went right down the field with some accurate passes.”

After halftime, the Sharks came out crisper and found paydirt on the opening drive of the third. A quick six-play drive was capped off by a Sophomore QB Madelyn DePetrillo pass to Junior Olivia DiFrank for a roughly 27-yard touchdown. The away team’s extra point attempt was then picked off by Allen as she made her presence felt on both of Nature Coast’s second half scores. After an unsuccessful conversion on a 4^th and 1 rush by Duncan at midfield, the visitors executed a quick three play drive that ended in six points. With just over 4 minutes remaining in regulation, DePetrillo rifled a pass over the middle for a short touchdown to Sophomore Athena Brown. After Central’s promising drive that began with Allen’s long gain sputtered, the Sharks were able to run out the clock for the victory.

Looking ahead to their next matchups, the Bears will look to get back in the win column against Carrollwood Day. Coach Nestor’s Bears will host the Patriots on Thursday evening. The Sharks have a week between contests as they will host the Citrus Hurricanes on March 13. Coach Wald and company will continue working on operating efficiently within their offensive system as the season progresses.

“We just need to continue staying in rhythm offensively and taking what they are giving us because sometimes they operate outside of that like Patrick Mahomes,” Coach Wald said. Not everybody is Patrick Mahomes right now. That is a step 2, step 3, step 45, but step 1 – read it, throw it, build some confidence.”