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Friday night rewind

By Times staff writers
Published September 18, 2005

Citrus 39, Lecanto 35

Crystal River 17, Nature Coast Tech 13

Zephyrhills 21, Hernando 7

Springstead 26, South Lake 21

Tarpon Springs 44, Central 14

Landmark Christian 14, Hern. Christian 9

"We killed ourselves. They were not the better team. We let them win. We can't seem to get away from the penalties."

- STEVE JOHNSON, Hernando Christian Academy coach, after his team failed to score a tying TD. "Coming from behind for this win is a big step for us."

- CRAIG FREDERICK, Crystal River coach.

"We've got three really good quarterbacks (senior Walter Howard, sophomore Bradley Paul and freshman Cameron West) we can win with, and that's a big luxury."

- RIK HAINES, Citrus coach.

"In the past I would, but I'm not satisfied in losing tonight."

- BOB LECOURS, Lecanto coach, after falling short in a battle with Citrus.

"We didn't execute at certain points when we needed to. The middle of the field was wide open, but we struggled to get the ball there."

- MATT SMITH, Hernando coach, on a Leopards passing attack that tallied 3 completions, 3 interceptions and 34 yards in 13 attempts.

RICHARD CHANEY, LECANTO: The tailback posted a gutsy performance against Citrus. He rushed for 215 yards and two TDs on 26 carries. ANTOIN SCRIVEN, CITRUS: The freshman running back, as Lecanto coach Bob LeCours put it, "was asked to carry the load, and he did. He had a career night." Scriven rushed for 288 yards and two TDs on 33 attempts.

ROBERT SMITH, HERNANDO: The junior running back had 63 yards on 17 carries. On the Leopards' lone touchdown drive, he rushed for 33 of their 53 yards.

STEPHEN PALEAZ, NATURE COAST: He returned a blocked field goal by Robert Fleming for a 39-yard TD, had a sack and recovered a fumble.

NATHAN SCHAFER, SPRINGSTEAD: He was brought up from the JV this week and responded. Schafer produced a huge tackle on the game's last kickoff after South Lake's Jeff Demps earlier had a 57-yard return. COREY DRUMMOND, HCA: The junior linebacker made 18 tackles. CRYSTAL RIVER DEFENSE: It recovered five fumbles that led to all 17 of the Pirates' points.

A Hernando defense that allowed 28 points and 310 yards rushing in last week's win over Lake Weir was able to keep Zephyrhills in check most of the night. The Leopards gave up just 104 yards on the ground.

Nature Coast moved the ball. The Sharks had a seven-play, 71-yard march to start the second half. "We went right down the field, and I thought we had the spark that we needed," coach Jamie Joyner said.

South Lake had several big plays off the slant in the first half, including a 5-yard dump on which Jeff Maxwell produced an 88-yard TD. But Springstead improved in the second half. "We got a little tighter on the receivers, jammed them at the line," Andrew Ortiz said. "It worked."

Hernando Christian had 75 yards in penalties, including two 5-yard fouls when the Lions were inside the Patriots' 20-yard line.

Barring a Hernando intrusion, it looks like Citrus and Lecanto are the playoff-bound teams from Class 3A, District 6 after the pounding they gave each other Friday. "One team (Citrus) proved they are the best in the district," LeCours said. Where is Lecanto? "Scrapping and fighting to try and re-assert ourselves," he said.

While seniors played a role in Citrus' victory, it was the combination of freshmen Antoin Scriven and Cameron West that drove the offense. They were responsible for 361 yards and had a hand in three touchdowns.

In the last 15 minutes, Crystal River dominated Nature Coast. The Pirates outgained the Sharks 92 to minus-6 yards and had key third- and fourth-down conversions respectively on two scoring drives. Justin Rolph (55 yards, 19 carries) and Shay Newcomer (57 yards passing) keyed the offense.

- DAVID MURPHY, DAWN REISS, VINCENT THOMAS, Times staff writers; and LARRY BUGG, RICHARD BURTON, Times correspondents.

[Last modified September 18, 2005, 02:15:36]