BROOKSVILLE – There were moments on the sideline during Thursday’s eight-man football spring game when Kasey Springer seemed his harshest critic.
The Hernando Christian Academy quarterback didn’t play poorly despite his team’s 21-7 loss to visiting Spring Hill Christian Academy. But he wasn’t about to pat himself on the back, either.
“How do I feel? Not good,” Springer said. “The first half was pretty crappy, because we haven’t had any experience. The second half was better.” “I have really high expectations for myself. I’m really hard on myself, and that takes me out of the game a lot. So I need to chill out on myself and just play the game.”
In the exhibition, Springer completed 4-of-6 passes for 63 yards. Though the Lions struggled offensively behind a rebuilt offensive line, Springer did lead an impressive final drive in which he connected on three consecutive passes covering 57 yards. The last toss in that sequence saw him roll to his left and hit Jingbo Huang down the middle for a 21-yard touchdown. Serving as the team’s kicker, he also tacked on the extra point. “I was just too disappointed about everything else, but it helped me a little bit; brightened my day, I guess,” Springer said.
A junior in the fall, Springer will be in his second season as the Lions’ starting signal caller. Last year, he went 30-of-76 for 242 yards with three touchdowns against nine interceptions. He additionally totaled 296 rushing yards and scored five times on the ground. Kicking, he averaged 15.5 yards on kickoffs, 22.8 on punts, and went 10-of-11 on PATs. Springer has been making an impact with his feet on the soccer pitch, as well, becoming one of the Lions’ top scorers the past two seasons.
“Kasey, he is a great kid. He’s a leader,” HCA head coach David Raley said. “We run the veer, or actually what’s called flexbone in 11-man football. That’s because Kasey has the ability to read and run the plays.”
Raley believes that having a year under his belt in the system will help Springer progress. Springer feels he could possibly earn a scholarship for kicking, but in the meanwhile his focus is on the coming campaign. “I want a lot of touchdowns and I don’t want any interceptions, because that’s the thing that just really kills me,” Springer said. “I’m just playing to have fun, but to help my school and my team.
“We want to do a lot better than we did last year. We went 5-5 last year. We want to win a lot more games. I want perfection.”