With every fall sport except football in the thick of the postseason, four county teams earned the pleasure of celebrating a district championship. One of those squads was the Nature Coast football team, which improved to 8-0 overall and 5-0 in Class 5A, District 7 Friday night with a 36-0 victory at Citrus. That win clinched the Sharks’ first playoff berth since 2009. Officially, Nature Coast’s only previous district title came in 2006 after it was stripped of its 2008 championship as part of its penalty for a fight at Groveland-South Lake that season.
Against the Hurricanes, senior DeShawn Smith piled up 292 yards and three touchdowns on just 15 carries. He also returned a fumble recovery to the end zone. That pushed him past the 2,000-yard mark to 2,195, along with 38 touchdowns, with two games remaining in the regular season and at least one more in the regional quarterfinals.
On Thursday, the Hernando boys cross country team also captured its first district crown since 2006, winning the 2A-7 Meet at the Weeki Wachee Preserve. “We were expected to (win), I think, you look at the virtual meet and everything. But there’s been a few guys that have been a little bit beat up just from the whole training aspect,” Hernando coach David Wilson said after the meet. “But we did what we had to do today and everyone pretty much placed the way they should. Our five, six and seven really improved. They’ve become more consistent; that helps.”
Sophomore Trevor Foley paced the effort with a first-place time of 17:19.55, with Tyler Pantley taking sixth (18:20.32), Ryan Bell coming in 11th (18:40.42), Chaz Steinkamp placing 13th (18:45.31) and Ross Stalcup taking 14th (18:46.10). The Leopards finished with a team score of 45, well ahead of Ridgewood in second with 75. Both Hernando and Nature Coast (fourth, 110) qualified for the regional meet in Ocala on Oct. 31, along with Weeki Wachee’s Jonathan Puig, who came in 12th (18:44.29).
In the girls’ race, Nature Coast placed third (89) and Hernando fourth (102) to earn regional berths. Central senior Kylyn Burbine had the highest county finish, taking seventh in 22:37.27 to become a regional qualifier.
Springstead senior Allen Keister came in third in the 3A-7 race with a 17:26.00, though the Eagles came five points short of advancing as a team after their number three runner, Jeff Amodie, cramped up midrace.
Isabel Somavilla (13th, 23:26.17) and Joy Jackson (14th, 23:30.01) will represent the Lady Eagles at regionals.
Later Thursday night, Weeki Wachee won the 5A-7 volleyball title with a 25-20, 25-27, 25-12, 25-23 triumph over Citrus. It’s the first district championship in any sport in school history. “I’ve been here since Day 1,” Weeki Wachee head coach Kelly Werkmeister said. “It is awesome to turn around and be the first one to put the banner up in this gym. We get to host the first regional, which is another exciting steppingstone for these girls. It’s just more to come for them and they have so much more to look forward to.”
Miranda Werkmeister led the Lady Hornets (21-7) with 20 kills and 25 digs. Zoe Murchio had 42 digs, Sarah Asbury added 35 assists and five aces, and Morgan Hnatiuk had seven kills and four blocks.
On Tuesday, Weeki Wachee knocked off both Central, 25-6, 25-9, 25-10, and Hernando, 25-19, 25-20, 25-20. The Lady Leopards (12-9) had defeated Nature Coast on Monday, 25-22, 25-16, 10-25, 20-25, 15-12.
Also on Tuesday in the 6A-8 Tournament, host Sunlake knocked off Springstead, 25-18, 21-25, 25-9, 25-17. Delaney Anderson had 26 assists and Sami McLead tallied eight kills for the Lady Eagles (11-10).
The county’s fourth district champion of the week arrived on Saturday, when the Springstead boys swim team made county history by taking first place in the 2A-7 Meet at The Long Center in Clearwater. It was the first district crown in school history, and possibly all of county swimming, as the Eagles scored 362 points to edge Crystal River (358) after the Pirates were disqualified in the final race, the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Adding to it, the Springstead girls were district runners-up with 345, behind Lecanto (402).
“That is awesome,” Springstead coach Wayne Withington said. “It’s never happened for Springstead and I’m glad I was the one that was able to do it. It took me four years to get where I’m at. We placed third for the longest time. I’m just ecstatic to come in first for boys and second place for girls.”
Senior Trey Patterson finished first in the 50 free (22.75) and 100 free (51.43) for the Eagles. He was also part of the winning 200-free relay along with Michael Molnar, Sam Brockway and Zack Starz (1:35.84), and the top 400-free relay with the same trio (3:32.56).
With the top two finishers in the individuals events and the first-place relays automatically advancing to regionals next Saturday at the same venue (at-large qualifiers will be named later this week), Molnar qualified with second-place showings of 1:57.89 in the 200 free and 1:00.10 in the 100 butterfly. Starz came in second in the 500 free (5:27.55) and Hernando’s Andrew Ertl was second in the 50 free (24.01).
For the Lady Eagles, freshman Dakota Chanthachoumpha took first in the 200 IM (2:26.36) and senior Allyson Fielder placed second in the 500 free (6:04.26).
Two Nature Coast sophomore golfers advanced to states on Oct 30-31 at Mission Inn and Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills. Mickey Dono shot a round of 80 in Monday’s 2A-Region V boys tournament in Wesley Chapel, while Skylar Muscianese posted an 82 in Tuesday’s girls tournament in Trinity.
As for the remainder of Friday’s football action, Hernando rallied from 14-0 down and defeated Central in overtime, 21-20. Christian Dowdell ran for 127 yards and three touchdowns for the Leopards (3-6 overall, 3-2 5A-7), while De’Vonta Smith rushed for 184 yards and three scores for the Bears (3-6 overall, 1-5 5A-7).
Weeki Wachee lost at Lecanto, 52-28. Shawn O’Gorman ran for 88 yards and two touchdowns, and Montae Bostick had 115 rushing yards and a score. The Hornets fell to 3-5 overall, 2-3 in 5A-7.
Springstead broke through for a 50-15 win over Dunedin, as Jordan Wright threw for three scores, including one to T.J. Owens, who ran for another to pace the Eagles (2-5).