BROOKSVILLE – The Weeki Wachee Hornets are Flag Football County Champions! On Thursday night, the Hornets (7-3) took down the Nature Coast Tech Sharks (6-3) by a 13-8 margin in the county championship final at the Bears’ Den.
To get to the championship match, the Sharks dominated the Hernando Leopards 24-0 earlier that evening while Weeki Wachee had taken care of business against the Bears on Tuesday. In the final, the Green and Black would build a two score lead until late in the matchup before holding off a late comeback attempt by the Sharks.
“Hats off to Nature Coast,” Hornets Head Coach Billy Hughes said. “They are a great team, great program. Hats off to [Head Coach Ian Wald]. He does a great job. Jason Deso, the assistant coach, does a really great job. Good kids over there. Real proud of that program. They have been playing hard. Hats off to them.”
In the initial frame, Coach Hughes’ crew had a pair of early scoring opportunities that could have allowed them to build an even larger lead early in the matchup, but they did not go as planned.
A quick drive to open the game saw the Hornets march down into the red zone before a Junior Madelyn DePetrillo interception of Sophomore QB Karly Pasmore ended that opportunity. After a Sophomore Ionnah Rock pick of DePetrillo’s pass three plays later, Weeki Wachee started in prime field position at the Sharks’ 20 yard line. However, Nature Coast’s defense would bow up and force a turnover on downs shortly thereafter.
After a Sharks’ possession ended in a punt, Coach Hughes and company put together the first of two long, 10-play, clock-chewing drives that gave them the win. The first was aided by a perfect 31-yard Pasmore pass to Senior Aaliyah Cox between defenders down the right sideline. They capped off their drive with a 4th down goal line pass from Pasmore to Senior Arianna Hessler.
The second scoring drive came in the third when Weeki put together multiple chunk plays before punching it in the same way they had the first time. Following a second touchdown toss to Hessler, Sophomore Joelys Rodriguez caught the extra point pass for the 13-0 lead on the final play of the third quarter. After the game, Coach Hughes broke down the sequence that followed.
“It was 13-0 and we gave up a safety, which we wanted to do because we were just trying to play smart football. They had a late drive there, and their quarterback [DePetrillo] is one of the top-notch players in the whole state. She is very talented, so she got that little quarterback sneak in.”
With the win, the Hornets also exacted revenge for their 6-0 loss to Nature Coast in game one of the season. “I am so proud of the growth we have made,” Coach Hughes said. “Four or five weeks later, here we are, and we are winning.”
He attributed their win to a couple of aspects. One was the leadership of Assistant Coach Steven Scire. While Coach Hughes tackles the defensive side of the ball, Coach Scire handles offense. He likened the assistant coach’s impact to that of having another head coach onboard.
“Scire is top notch,” said Coach Hughes. “With him, it is like having two head coaches […] We work together on both sides of the ball. We have great chemistry together. So, I am very lucky to have him part of the staff here.”
The other area the head coach attributes to their success is growth. With several of his players being dual sport athletes in basketball, many of them were unable to log more than a single flag football practice before kicking off against the Sharks at the beginning of the year. Now that they have had most of the season to develop and gel together, their play has progressed accordingly.
“Overall, I was real proud of girls,” Coach Hughes said. “They are just extremely coachable. They are all bought in. They are a special group. The chemistry is so tight. They have got a good sisterhood, a good bond. They cheer for each other on the sideline even if they are not playing or getting many minutes at all, they are excited for each other.”
Moving forward, the Sharks will look to get back on track against Seven Rivers Christian on Tuesday while Coach Hughes and the Hornets will look to build on their six-game winning streak when they take on the Lecanto Panthers on Thursday.
