Sharks Score Senior Night Victory Over Dunedin

Officially, the Nature Coast football team ended the regular season with a 5-5 record. But, in the eyes of one important critic, the Sharks should have been 10-0.

“Every game we lost, we should have won,” Nature Coast Robert Kazmier said. “We made a lot of mental errors and had a lack of execution at times. We beat ourselves a lot all season.”

But, at least for one night, Kazmier and the Sharks weren’t questioning themselves Wednesday. They wrapped up their regular season with a 49-14 victory against Dunedin on Senior Night at the Shark Tank in a game that was rescheduled — twice.

The Sharks originally were scheduled to host Dunedin on Oct. 11, but Hurricane Milton forced a postponement. The game then was rescheduled for Thursday night, but a last-minute decision involving both schools was made to move the game up to Wednesday night due to concerns about the weather.

“The state wanted all games to be finished by Thursday night so they could announce the playoff brackets on Friday night,” Kazmier said. “But we saw the weather forecast for Thursday night wasn’t looking promising and we didn’t want to take any chances, so it was moved up a day.”

The short week didn’t give Nature Coast any problems as a running clock was used in the second half and the Sharks built some positive momentum as they head into the first round of the Class 3A state playoffs at Mulberry on Friday (Nov. 15) at 7:30 p.m. Mulberry is 9-1 and is averaging 32.6 points per game. On their way to the Class 3A-District 12 championship, the Panthers recorded five shutouts during the regular season. Mulberry is led by junior running back Traveon Hymes, who rushed for 1,190 yards and 17 touchdowns during the regular season.

But the Sharks weren’t looking into the future. They were living in the moment against Dunedin as they snapped a three-game losing streak and saluted a small senior class made up of Jackson Hoyt, Jacorrion Owens, Treyvion Wilson, LJ Elwin, Jordan Wilson, Xavier McCullough and Gavin Piliouras.

“We have a small senior class and we wanted to send them out in style,” Kazmier said. “We made all the seniors part of the game plan and made sure they were all involved.”

No senior was a bigger part than Hoyt. The quarterback, who also is a standout baseball pitcher, had one of his best all-around games. He completed 13 of 19 passes and three of his incompletions were drops by the receivers. Hoyt finished with 250 passing yards on a night when he threw for three touchdowns.

Hoyt has already committed to playing baseball for the University of Florida and is a potential pick in next summer’s Major League Baseball draft, but he remains focused on football for now. Hoyt has been a dual threat in football all season and that continued against Dunedin as he also rushed for 72 yards and a touchdown.

“Jackson had a big night for us and he spread the ball around very well,” Kazmier said. “But that wasn’t unusual or unexpected. He’s had a lot of big nights for us.”

But Hoyt wasn’t the only senior to stand out. Owens also had a huge night as a wide receiver. He caught four passes for 100 yards and had two likely touchdowns that didn’t materialize due to pass-interference penalties on Dunedin.

“Dunedin couldn’t cover Jacorrion,” Kazmier said.

Elwin only carried eight times for 30 yards, but he had two rushing touchdowns. The Sharks also got plenty of help from a loaded junior class that includes tight ends Grant Lanning (three receptions of 41 yards, a receiving touchdown and a two-point conversion), wide receiver/running back Jasir Harvin (six carries of 35 yards, one touchdown and a two-point conversion), running back Timothy “T3” Gaynor (four carries for 32 yards), wide receiver Zayden McKenzie (three catches for 29 yards and one rushing touchdown) and wide receiver Cashis Williams (two receptions for 31 yards and a touchdown).

Hoyt and Owens will be the only two senior starters the Sharks will lose to graduation next spring. It’s the same story on defense, where Nature Coast has been starting only two seniors. Nature Coast opened the season with three straight victories before losing its next two. The Sharks then bounced back with an easy 56-0 victory against Anclote before losing three straight close games to Springstead, Land O’ Lakes and Hernando. But Kazmier said the victory against Dunedin was a nice way to wrap up the regular season and it puts Nature Coast on a high note entering the playoffs.

“This was supposed to be a rebuilding season for us because we have such a small senior class,” Kazmier said. “It’s been a frustrating season at times because we lost several games we should have won. But, at the same time, it’s been an exciting season because we’re made up mostly of juniors and sophomores. Getting to the playoffs is pretty much expected around here and we’ve played well enough to get into the playoffs. When you get there, everyone starts off 0-0, and anything is possible, so we’ll see what happens.”