Exactly how does a football team prepare to stop a 2,000-yard running back for the second week in a row? Well, it helps when the defense sees a 3,000-yard back every single practice.
As Nature Coast gets ready for this Friday’s Class 5A, Region II semifinal against River Ridge, kicking off at 7:30 p.m. at Shark Tank Stadium, the focus will be on the Sharks’ DeShawn Smith and his Royal Knights counterpart Chris Schwarz.
Schwarz comes in having rushed for 2,205 yards and 24 touchdowns, yet his numbers somehow pale in comparison to those of Smith, who leads the state with 3,111 rushing yards and set a state record with 57 total touchdowns.
So it’s easy to see why Shark defenders believe their biggest strength is stopping the run. After all, no opposing back can present a greater challenge than their own teammate.
“It let’s us know what’s out there,” said senior defensive end/middle linebacker Anthony Contegiacomo. “We’re one of the highest rushing teams in Florida. We’ll do fine against any other offense.”
That was certainly proven last week, in a 42-13 win over Zephyrhills, the first playoff victory in team history that pushed Nature Coast’s record to 11-0.
The Bulldogs totaled 437 points and 4,054 offensive yards over 10 regular-season contests, including 3,314 rushing yards. Antwione Sims came in with 2,093 yards on the ground and 25 touchdowns this season.
Yet the visitors were stymied offensively, with a late touchdown off a turnover only slightly improving the final tally. Zephyrhills mustered 205 yards of total offense, 142 of it rushing. Sims was held to a modest 129 yards on 25 carries and a meaningless fourth-quarter score.
“Far and away the best we’ve played all year,” said co-defensive coordinator Kyle Worden, brother of head coach Justin Worden. “And the biggest thing is, we harp on them every week, ‘Do your job.’ And finally for the first time all year we had 11 people every single play doing their job.”
“We’ve improved a lot since Week 1, but I don’t think we’re anywhere where we anticipate or want to be at,” co-defensive coordinator Dustin Adkins said. “We still have a lot of improving to do. We fly around a lot more. A lot more talking, a lot more communication.
“But to be honest, the biggest thing is we’re healthy now. For the first eight, nine weeks we weren’t healthy. We had missing linebackers, missing corners, missing safeties. Just across the board we were banged up. Us being healthy, you’re starting to see how we look full strength, which we haven’t had since Week 1.”
Statistically, the Sharks have been solid. Opponents are averaging 16.3 points, though the defense has been more vulnerable early in games. Smith has continually scorched the opposition with long touchdown runs, often leading to extremely short offensive possessions, but also makes it difficult for his own defense to catch its breath.
It’s still progress from last season, the first under this current coaching staff, when Nature Coast permitted 187 points across 10 games. “We both came in from our respective schools, Armwood (Adkins), Oak Ridge,” Kyle Worden said. “We have our mentality, kind of our own system that we bring in, so it took them a while to adapt to us. The one thing that we’ve done progressively throughout the season, we’ve gotten better week by week.
“We don’t get a lot of notoriety defensively, but we play teams tough. We may not shut everybody out, but if we can hold you to 14 points or less, they’re (the offense) going to score their 40 and we’re going win the game.”
Junior linebacker Matthew Robinson leads the team with 103 tackles, followed by Contegiacomo with 81 plus seven tackles for a loss and three sacks in only nine games. Junior defensive lineman Trevor Gamble has a team-best six sacks plus 62 tackles, 10 for a loss.
“We’ve had our ups and downs,” Robinson said. “At the end of the day we win.”
Though those three pace the team statistically, they said there is no one emotional leader the entire unit leans on. Instead, it’s more of a committee approach, with everyone trying to do their part.
“If one person messes up, it messes up everything,” Gamble said. “We’ve just got to execute.”
“Our coaches are giving us the key to success,” Robinson said. “All we’ve got to do is open the door.”
That door leads to nearly unprecedented heights in this county. While Springstead did advance to a regional final two years ago, the Eagles finished 11-2. No county team has ever had 12 wins in a single season.
But the Sharks don’t appear too wrapped up in the historical significance of their current run, nor anticipate getting caught up in what figures to be an intense atmosphere Friday night.
“I think things will be a little bit thicker than the last one,” Contegiacomo said. “It’s more like a bubble. We just get on the field and just zone out and play. Right when the defense steps on the field, that’s when everything else goes blank.”
All three players agreed that the defense has no problems quietly going about its business while Smith and the offense garner headlines, with Contegiacomo adding about the star tailback, “We score through him.”
“We understand that our offense is going to get talked about. Anytime you have a guy that ran for 57 touchdowns in a season, we understand he will be highlighted,” Adkins said. “Like I tell them all the time, that’s nothing against us. That’s a benefit that we have.
“Our mindset is, we know offense is going to put up points. It’s going to be hard to stop our offense, especially DeShawn Smith, when we get rolling. So our thing is, we’re just not going to let it go. At some point in the game we’re going to get a lead, and our job is just to hold on to it.”
The coaching staff expects the Royal Knights to try to impose their will with a power ground attack.
“Run, run, run, run, run, run; 19 runs to every one pass. A heavy dosage of (Schwarz),” Adkins said. “He’s a big, bruising back. He’s good. It takes a hell of a back to run for 5,000 yards in two years. So we know we’re going to get a healthy dosage of (Schwarz), we’ve just got to be ready to gang tackle him.”
“In terms of scheme-wise, there really is no comparison (to Zephyrhills) whatsoever,” Kyle Worden said. “River Ridge is definitely completely different. They are an old-school, smash-mouth football team.
“Defensively, I think this plays a lot better into our strengths this week than last week. We’re a little bit better if you tighten us down in the box than if you spread us out.”
If the Shark defenders can do to Schwarz what they did against Sims, it will be tough not to notice their efforts.
“We’re expecting (Schwarz) to hit that hole hard. But we’re just going to have to come out there and bang with him,” Contegiacomo said. “Instead of one hat to the ball like the rest of those teams, we’re going to try to put a least four or five on him.”
“They’re a lot more basic than the Zephyrhills offense, which is better for us, obviously,” Gamble said. “But they’ve definitely got a better back.”
“What they do, they do it well,” Robinson said. “They execute very well, we’ve noticed that. So as long as we do our jobs very well, we’ll be fine.”