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Friday night rewind

QUOTABLE

"It's disappointing, but we're getting better. We're taking a step in the right direction. If this weather lays off a little bit and we have some practice, we have an opportunity to be a good team by the end of the year." - MATT SMITH, first-year Hernando coach, on his team's 0-2 start.

"Nobody's happy with a loss, but I'm happy because they're learning. If we can figure out how to get this thing started in the first quarter, we'll hang with them." - STEVE JOHNSON, first-year Hernando Christian coach, after the team's 65-0 loss. HCA trailed Indian Rocks Christian 28-0 after one quarter.

CHAD SANDERS, HERNANDO: The senior running back gained 219 yards, including touchdowns of 45 and 5 yards, in a 33-13 loss to Clearwater Central Catholic.

RILEY COOPER, CLEARWATER CENTRAL CATHOLIC: The junior receiver/free safety/punter did it all for the Marauders, rushing once for 17 yards, catching two passes for 46 yards, returning a punt 79 yards for a touchdown, averaging 42.8 yards on four punts and making numerous tackles on defense.

RIAN WILLIAMS, NATURE COAST TECH: After a slow start in which the Sharks fell behind 14-0 in the first half, the junior played the explosive game he's capable of in the second half, scoring three consecutive touchdowns to give the Sharks a 27-21 lead. He also capped off Mike Allen's final touchdown (a 2-yard run) with a two-point conversion run.

JIMMY DAVIS, INDIAN ROCKS CHRISTIAN: The senior halfback ran roughshod through Hernando Christian in just one half of action, scoring five touchdowns on nine carries and gaining 153 yards.

Clearwater Central Catholic coach Mike Jalazo complimented Hernando's effort. But he said the Marauders should have done a better job of wrapping up running back Chad Sanders, who accounted for 219 of the Leopards' 364 rushing yards and both touchdowns.

"We've got to get better in tackling," Jalazo said. "And you know what? A lot of his runs, we had him. We had him, and we don't wrap up. So now we know, we've got to improve, because you can hit someone real hard when you're going against my fourth-string tailback, but when you go against a great tailback, you can't hit him real hard and he'll go down. He's going to keep going."

Give Nature Coast Tech props for pulling off its first regular-season home game. It wasn't easy. The school was without electricity Friday morning and didn't have a scoreboard by game time. The Sharks borrowed a small electric scoreboard to stick at one of the sidelines, so they were able to display at least the score and the clock.

Right before the game started, the bleachers had not passed their final safety inspection, but everything was straightened out by the time fans started showing.

Though he fumbled once and had an interception returned for a touchdown, Hernando quarterback James Thomas rushed for 54 yards on 12 carries and completed his first pass of the season.

Hernando sophomore Robert Smith rushed for 51 yards on 11 carries and had kickoff returns of 27 and 30 yards.

With Hernando trailing 19-7, defensive back Chris Doran recovered a possible momentum-changing fumble at the CCC 34 with 1:02 remaining in the first half. But the Leopards were unable to move past the 32 before time expired.

HCA punted on consecutive downs against Indian Rocks Christian. Quarterback Steve Johnson tried to quick-kick on third down deep in his own territory, but the kick was blocked back into him and the Lions recovered. So on fourth down, they were able to punt again.

Chad Sanders is one heck of a running back, but he can't do it all for Hernando.

James Thomas shows promise as the Leopards' quarterback, but fumbled snaps held him back for the second straight week.

Indian Rocks Christian did not need two coaches atop a cherry picker behind their bench calling down adjustments to the sideline via headphones. At the very least, that system should have been retired at halftime when IRC was well ahead of HCA.