Last Thursday night ended up as a big one for Hernando County high school soccer. Four county teams took part in district championship matches, and three celebrated winning titles.
The District 4A-5 Tournament final in girls soccer pitted two county squads against one another as top-seeded Nature Coast knocked off second-seeded Hernando 4-0.
The Sharks (12-5-2) defeated another county foe in the semifinals, downing Weeki Wachee 8-0 on Jan. 27. Bleser and Chechile each scored three goals in that one, with Chechile also notching two assists. Kaitlyn Striegel had a goal and an assist, Ava Ferlita scored the other goal, Monroe had two assists and Sydney Gilbert tallied one assist.
Hernando was a 6-5 winner over third-seeded Pasco in the other Jan. 27 semifinal. The Leopards finished 9-11-1 on the season. Nature Coast ended up seeded fifth in Region 4A-2 and visited fourth-seeded Rockledge on Tuesday in a quarterfinal match.
The Sharks were also district champions on the boys side, thanks to a 1-0 triumph over top-seeded Pasco in the final. On Jan. 28, second-seeded Nature Coast (8-6-1) beat third-seeded Central (5-7-1) 3-0 in a semifinal.
In the boys regional bracket, the Sharks were the eighth seed and had to travel to top seed Bishop Moore in Tuesday’s quarterfinals.’
Then there was the Springstead boys, who had a thrilling 3-2 win over top-seeded Leesburg in double overtime to take the District 5A-5 final. Kaiden Levassuer tallied a goal and an assist for the Eagles (14-3-1), while Tyler Siebe and Christian Gies also had goals, and Raul Maldonado added an assist.
Springstead is seeded fifth in Region 5A-2 and traveled to fourth-seeded Wesley Chapel for Tuesday’s quarterfinals.
The Springstead girls soccer team lost 6-1 to Gainesville in a District 5A-5 semifinal on Jan. 27. The Eagles were 9-9 to wrap up the season.
Another winter sport in its postseason, girl weightlifting held regional meets last week including the Region 2A-3 meet at Cypress Creek held Jan. 29.
Nature Coast, which rolled to district titles in traditional (bench press and clean-and-jerk) and Olympic (snatch and clean-and-jerk) the previous week, took fourth in traditional (19) and fifth in Olympic (16).
The lone regional champion for the Sharks, earning an automatic trip to states, was Sophie Shellenberger at 129 pounds for Olympic scoring. She lifted 125 pounds in the snatch and 150 in the clean for a 275 total, and put up 115 in the bench to take third in traditional at 265.
Keanna Cepeda took second in 169 traditional with 345 (150 bench, 195 clean) and Olympic with 350 (155 snatch). Payton Fahey was third in 101 traditional with 205 (105 bench, 100 clean), as was Katie Calise in 110 traditional with 245 (125 bench, 120 clean).
Regular-season play in basketball wrapped up last week, and saw some history made as Weeki Wachee junior forward Logan White set a new single-game school record with 41 points in Thursday’s 71-64 win over Tarpon Springs. It has been a tough season for the Hornets at 4-21, but White has been a bright spot averaging 17.0 points per game.
Hernando ended its regular season by defeating visiting Springstead in overtime 58-57 on Friday. Sam Jackson had 21 points and seven rebounds for the Leopards (18-7), and Joseph Rivera added 12 points. Alejando Arenas had a double-double of 13 points and 15 rebounds for the Eagles (14-10), and Zion McKenzie scored 16
points.
That was in contrast to a 57-37 loss to Nature Coast on Jan. 28, in which Jackson scored 12 points.
Springstead’s girls won 52-28 over Hernando on Friday to end the regular season 19-5. The Eagles had beaten Crystal River 68-36 on Jan. 28 behind Briana Coleman’s double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds, plus 16 points from Arianna Brookins as well as 12 points and eight rebounds by J’Ziyah Munford.
Hernando (12-11) won 39-37 over Nature Coast on Jan. 28. Ayana Kincade had 18 points and Mary Lylah Chappell had 13. Then last Thursday, the Leopards downed Hernando Christian Academy 48-16. Aislin Ruppe led the way with 15 points and followed with 13 points against Springstead.
Weeki Wachee wrapped up an impressive 20-5 regular season, first with a 56-39 win over Lecanto on Jan. 28, getting 20 points from Karly Pasmore and 12 from Reese Halter, plus eight points and 13 rebounds from Joelys Rodriguez. On Friday, the Hornets defeated Crystal River 63-38.
