The last seven seasons have been unkind to Central High’s football team on the field. The Bears haven’t had a winning record since 2007 and haven’t won more than two games since 2008. Finally, in their second year under head coach Chris Sands, they have seemed on the verge of turning a critical corner and at least begun to string together competitive efforts. Then off-field tragedy struck nearly two weeks ago, when quarterback Sebastian Rivera was critically injured in an early-morning motorcycle accident on Sept. 22. He passed away last Sunday.
“We talked about it since it happened, there’s no right way to do this,” said Sands of how the team has moved forward. “There’s no book that tells us the way to do it, so we just got to take one day at a time. Emotions are high since it happened. The kids responded really well. We’ve just got to keep trucking, take one day at a time and keep going… We have a plan here, and our plan is to turn this program around. It’s still in the process of doing that. We continue to move forward. We can’t take steps back. Every single week we strive to go forward, and that’s what we’re going to do next week, also,” Sands explained.
While dealing with the emotional trauma of the past two weeks, Central has avoided what would be an understandable drop-off. Still, after blowing a 21-6 lead and falling at Weeki Wachee, 28-27, a week earlier, on Friday night the Bears again failed to stay in front and dropped a Class 5A, District 7 contest at the Bears’ Den versus Lecanto, 39-28. The game featured four lead changes in the second half. De’Vonta Smith, who came into the night having already run for 1,017 yards and 11 touchdowns, carried the ball 35 times for 189 yards and scored twice for Central (2-4 overall, 0-3 5A-7). “De’Vonta’s a special kid. He not only runs the ball, he’s probably one of our best defensive players, also,” Sands said. “He just cares so much about football, and he works so hard on and off the field to be successful. It’s showing this year. He’s having a great year and we really think he’s a really good player for us.”
His second touchdown put the Bears on top, 28-27, with 5:21 left to play, but Rudolph Holton III returned the ensuing kickoff 68 yards to the end zone. Lecanto quarterback Travis McGee tacked on his second rushing touchdown as 3:11 remained to essentially put the game away.
Earlier, the Bears scored on a 30-yard run by Albon Jones and a 42-yard punt return from Manny Scott, who also recorded an interception. That made it 21-13 before the Panthers rallied back. “We’re a really good football team,” Sands said. “The scores don’t really show it. We lost tonight by 11 points. We literally dominated that game. We were up and then we were down, and then we took the lead, and literally on defense they couldn’t do anything. We hit that quarterback every single play. We just got the raw end of football. There’s always a winner and loser in football, and we lost tonight. Hats off to Lecanto, they’re a great football team.”
With unbeaten Nature Coast enjoying a bye week, Weeki Wachee was the only county team to record a victory on Friday, trouncing Citrus, 34-7. Quarterback Alec Cromie led the way for the Hornets (3-2 overall, 2-0 5A-7), completing 19-of-32 passes for 343 yards and three touchdowns. Having notched three wins already, Weeki Wachee has matched its highest single-season total, in its fourth year of varsity existence.
Despite a 1-yard touchdown by Tyler Higginbotham and 110 rushing yards from Christian Dowdell, Hernando fell to 1-5 overall and 1-2 in 5A-7 with a 21-7 loss at Crystal River.
Meanwhile, Jordan Wright ran for a touchdown and threw for another, as Springstead fell to Sunlake, 38-20. The Eagles now stand at 1-4 overall, 0-2 in 6A-6.
Hernando went 3-0 in volleyball this week, with sweeps of 5A-7 rivals Nature Coast on Tuesday, 25-15, 25-16, 25-23, and Lecanto on Thursday, 25-13, 25-5, 25-23. On Wednesday, the Lady Leopards (11-7 overall, 7-4 5A-7) dug out of an 0-2 hole to defeat county-rival Springstead, 16-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-12. Ali Bronson had 14 kills and four aces, and Taylor Neblock added 12 kills.
The Lady Eagles (7-9) received 18 kills from Jennifer Aten and 11 kills plus three aces from Sami McLead. Delany Anderson had 27 assists and Alondra Arce chipped in 45 digs.
Weeki Wachee (11-7) won matches over Bishop McLaughlin on Wednesday, 26-24, 25-12 25-18, and Nature Coast on Thursday, 25-17, 25-18, 21-25, 25-12. Miranda Werkmeister combined for 41 kills and 44 digs over the two matches, while Zoe Murchio had 55 digs and Sarah Asbury contributed 79 assists.
Nature Coast moved to 11-0-1 in boys golf, winning a tri-match against Hernando and Citrus at Brooksville Country Club on Thursday, with a 177 compared to 183 by the Hurricanes (13-3) and 198 by the Leopards (7-3). Sophomore Tyler Bismarck shot 41 to pace the Sharks, while the county’s scoring leader, Hernando senior Pierce Kimbrough, posted a 45 to tie for the team lead with Zayne Vasquez.
On Tuesday at GlenLakes, Nature Coast scored 169 while Springstead had 181 and Weeki Wachee totaled 221. Bismarck, Chris Felts and Mickey Dono all shot 42. Ryan Maharaj carded a 40 and Brett Maharaj a 42 for the Eagles, and Jeff Misener a 43 for the Hornets.
Springstead’s swim team lost to Crystal River in a meeting of two of the top squads within Hernando and Citrus counties, as the boys fell to 5-1 overall, 102-81, and the girls went to 4-2, 99-84.
Senior Trey Patterson won multiple individual races for the Eagles, the 50-yard freestyle (24.06) and 100 free (54.91). Freshman Dakota-Rae Chanthachoumpha did the same for the Lady Eagles, the 200 IM (2:33.02) and 100 butterfly (1:10.18).
In cross country, Hernando sophomore Trevor Foley won the Weeki Wachee Invitational Saturday morning at the Weeki Wachee Preserve, running a 16:51.19. The Leopards (95) placed second to Wiregrass Ranch (41), and ahead of third-place Springstead (125). Nature Coast senior Amelia Schmit ran a 20:28.03 to finish third on the girls’ side, as the Lady Sharks were third in the team totals at 139.