Central Left Stunned as Citrus Earns First Win

INVERNESS – On paper, Friday night seemed like a perfect opportunity for the Central High football team to end its recent losing streak.

The Bears made the trip to Inverness to face Citrus, an opponent with no wins on the season and on a 13-game losing skid dating back to last year. The Hurricanes had been outscored 337-23 coming in and had yet to hold a lead all season.

But on the field, things played out a bit differently. Central fell behind in a turnover-filled first half, then faltered again after a fourth-quarter comeback and fell 21-16 for its fourth straight loss.

“Tough loss. We took them for granted,” Central head coach Jim Pusateri said. “All week long, we’ve been telling them don’t take them for granted and they took them for granted.”
On the opening drive, the previously maligned Citrus (1-7, 1-1 District 3A-7) offense drove down to the Central (3-6, 1-3 3A-7) 19-yard line before an interception by Jacorry Graham. However, the Bears quickly went three-and-out, then had a short punt to give Citrus the ball back on the Central 32.

On the next snap, Waylon Williamson found Tyson Phanor over the middle for a 32-yard touchdown and the ’Canes had their first lead of the season at the 7:38 mark of the first quarter.

Williamson, playing on defense, then ended the next Central possession with an interception. Citrus drove down the field again and Phanor burst through the middle for a 13-yard score to make it 14-0 with 4:04 still to go in the first.

The Bears continued to turn the ball over. Williamson intercepted another pass and Cole Palmeri added a pick, while Chase Buch recovered a fumble. But they did finally find the end zone with 24 seconds left in the half on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Nick Demos to Alvin Cortes.

That made it 14-7 at the intermission and Citrus slowed down on offense after Phanor was ejected following the Palmeri interception when he received a second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

“We changed some things up offensively,” Pusateri said. “We went five-wide and see how they could cover it. They had a hard time covering it. We moved the ball a little bit after that. We made adjustments, they made adjustments. They came out on top.”

It appeared the ’Canes were about to break through, getting down to the Central 6 in the middle of the fourth quarter. Instead, Williamson had his own pass picked off at the goal line and returned 99 yards by Graham to tie it up at 14 with 7:56 remaining.

Williamson bounced back immediately. The sophomore was the return man on the ensuing kickoff and brought it all the way down to the Central 16. Three plays later, he ran around right end for an 11-yard touchdown.

The Bears got as far as the Citrus 26 before turning the ball over the downs. The fourth-down play was ended with 1:02 left to play on a sack by Buch, who had two fumble recoveries on the night.

Officially the game ended on a safety as the ’Canes purposely ran out of the end zone on fourth down to ensure the clock ran out.

Demos finished 21 of 36 passing for 253 yards for the Bears. Cortes had an interception and Terrell Burton recovered a fumble caused by Jorge Cabrera. Central has one more game left this season on Thursday against Tenoroc.

“I’d like to see us come together, come out and play,” Pusateri said. “Stick together, that’s the whole thing. If you can’t stick together, you get this result.

“Just a tough loss, But we’ll come back at it Monday and keep going. We’re rebuilding the program. We’ll get there.”