BROOKSVILLE – The Hernando Leopards (2-0) took down the Lecanto Panthers (0-2) Flag Football team at Tom Fisher Stadium on Wednesday night. The Panthers jumped out to an early lead, but the home team would quickly turn the tide enroute to a convincing 20-6 victory.
After beginning the season without surrendering a score, the Purple and Gold received a shock when the Panthers quickly marched down the field and put the first points on the board in no time flat.
Fortunately for the home team, it would not take them long to reclaim the lead. Midway through the second quarter, they would claim the lead for good following, arguably, the plays (plural) of the game.
With Lecanto driving near midfield while holding a six-point lead, Freshman WR/LB Kenderlyn Hart stepped up for one of her multiple interceptions on the night. Her forced turnover set her team up with momentum and excellent field position.
“[Kenderlyn] is a freshman,” said Leopards Head Coach Tyson Ellis. “She is length out there. She is great at outside linebacker and receiver, also. She is a girl we can throw it up to. I mean, Kenderlyn is a weapon.”
A few chunk plays down the remainder of the field brought them down to the one before multi-talented sophomore athlete Alexis Sway completed the short toss to fellow Sophomore QB Carlie Grant over the middle for the score and accompanying extra point. This gave them a 7-6 advantage that would only increase throughout the evening.
Despite the strong night for Hart, Coach Ellis also made sure to shout out his rushers for pressuring the quarterback and forcing her into tough situations. Their efforts led to several more interceptions by the Leopards including one by Junior Keyasia Gaines on the ensuing possession.
“We tell our rushers, ‘You get a sack, that is great,’ but we want to make the quarterback throw the ball before they want to throw the ball. She threw the ball before she did and we tell our defense, ‘They are going to throw the ball right to you. Make a play.’”
Coming out of the half, Hernando received possession of the football and made sure to take advantage of the opportunity. A methodical nine play drive was capped off by another scoring play involving Sway (receiving) and Grant (passing).
After forcing a Lecanto punt early in the final frame, Hernando would ice the game on a five-play drive bookended by a pair of drive-making plays. The first involved Sophomore Aajyrah Adams battling for a bobbled ball with a defender deep down the field. The second saw Sophomore Ayana Kincade make the ever important touchdown catch on 4th down in the back left corner of the endzone.
Moving forward, Hernando’s head coach wants to his girls to communicate, to continue to challenge themselves at practice, and to “calm it down in our heads and make a play.” Fortunately for his team’s culture, some of the young leaders are already making names for themselves for their competitiveness.
“[…] Iron sharpens iron,” coach said. “There are some times at practice, Kenderlyn and Sway, we do not want going against each other because they are going to hurt each other. We do not want to hurt each other, but it is that competitiveness we are trying to breed and start that culture here […]”
Before opening the young season on a 2-0 start, the Leopards showed how far they have come at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Girls Flag Football Preseason Classic. In their two matchups at the Advent Health Training Center, the Purple and Gold outscored Seminole and Bartow High Schools by roughly 80 combined points.
With young players such as Sway, Kincade, Grant, Adams, and Hart, Coach Ellis’ team has “a lot of weapons” to work with. Even better for the Leopards, “we are still learning,” the head coach continued. “We are still growing.”
