![Hernando High , 3, Jerry Brown puts pressure on Springstead QB, 1, Gio Martinez Friday at Tom Fisher stadium. [Photo by Joe DiCristofalo]](https://www.hernandosun.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/DSC_7253-Enhanced-NR.jpg "DSC_7253-Enhanced-NR")
By PATRICK YASINSKAS
WESLEY CHAPEL — Moments after their hopes of a perfect season ended, the Springstead Eagles were reminded they still are a good football team.
In a meeting of two teams that entered with 6-0 records, Wiregrass Ranch defeated Springstead 14-3 before a homecoming crowd at The Ranch on Friday night. But the final score didn’t come close to telling the whole story of what transpired. For the better part of 48 minutes, the Eagles gave the Bulls — a team stocked with several major-college prospects and a slew of players that transferred in from other schools — all they could handle.
“You don’t ever want to accept losing,” Springstead coach Mike Garofano said. “But I told them not to hang their heads. I was very proud of their effort. I told them to use this as fuel for the rest of the season.”
The Eagles had plenty of fuel against Wiregrass. Playing tough, disciplined and smart football, against the best team they’ve seen all season, the Eagles kept the game very close until Wiregrass managed to pull away with a touchdown in the waning minutes of the four quarter.
“I have a ton of respect for Springstead football, and I love Mike Garofano,” Wiregrass coach Mark Kantor said. “Mike has kept their program what Springstead is all about. In this day and age, they don’t have the advantage a lot of schools do of getting transfers from nearby schools. But you know they’re always going to be well coached and they’re always going to play hard. And, believe me, they played us very hard tonight. They gave us headaches and they’re going to keep giving people headaches.”
If it sounds like Kantor knows a little about Springstead history and culture, it’s only because he does. Kantor is a 1991 graduate of Springstead. He was a high school teammate of Garofano, who graduated Springstead in 1993. After blowing out his knee as a college freshman, Kantor returned to Springstead and started his coaching career as an assistant, supervising Garofano and working for then Eagles coach Bill Browning.
“(Garofano) and I come from the Bill Browning tree,” Kantor said. “And that’s a very good tree to come from.”
Browning led Springstead to its first football success after the school had struggled in its early years. He later had successful stints at Hernando High and Sunlake in Pasco County and his teams always were known for being well coached and full of heart. When two of his pupils and their teams squared off, it was more of the same.
All night look, Wiregrass looked like it was on the verge of knocking Springstead out. But, somehow, the Eagles prevented that until Wiregrass put together a lengthy touchdown drive that ended with 6:05 remaining in the fourth quarter. Until then, it was anybody’s game. Early on, though, it looked like Wiregrass was about to dominate.
The Bulls opened the game by marching straight down the field, but the Eagles stalled the drive when Xylus Pastrana intercepted a Wiregrass pass in the end zone and forced the Bulls to punt on their next drive enroute to a scoreless first quarter.
But Wiregrass capitalized on an interception that gave the Bulls good field position and took a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by Ian Wilson with 8:14 left in the second quarter. With help from a lengthy kickoff return by Connor Mccazzio and several Wiregrass penalties — a persistent problem for the Bulls all game — the Eagles set up a third-and-goal situation at the Wiregrass 1-yard line in the final seconds of the first half.
![Springstead, 4, Connor McCazzio runs for a touchdown against visiting Nature Coast Tech Friday at Booster Stadium. [Photo by Joseph DiCristofalo]](https://www.hernandosun.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/DSC_9577-Enhanced-NR.jpg)
But a false start penalty forced the Eagles to settle for a field goal by Raul Maldanado to cut the lead to 7-3.
“We needed a touchdown at the end of the first half and we didn’t get it,” Garofano said. “You need to come away with a touchdown and not a field goal there. It would have been a 7-7 game and anything could have happened.”
As it turned out, the field goal produced Springstead’s only points of the game. That largely was because the offense struggled throughout. Top running back Mccazzio was held to 44 yards on nine carries. Quarterback Gio Martinez, another top offensive threat, ran for 40 yards on 11 carries and completed nine of 20 passes for 70 yards and was intercepted twice.
But Springstead’s defense kept the game close and kept one of the region’s top quarterbacks relatively quiet. Dillon Rose Bailey completed 10 of 14 passes for 129 yards with one interception.
“I’m proud of how our defense played,” Garofano said. “Wiregrass has a very good offense and we didn’t make anything easy for them.”
The Eagles will look to get back on track with a home game against district foe Wesley Chapel on Friday.
