While Hurricane Matthew barreled its way up the east coast of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, Hernando County escaped any real impact from the deadly storm outside of a blustery Friday.
Still, just as with Hurricane Hermine last month, the threat of a tropical system led to the Hernando County School District calling off school and all after-school activities on Thursday and Friday.
That of course wreaked havoc on Week 7 of the prep football schedule. One non-district matchup, Hernando at Ocala-Forest, was completely canceled.
The other two games on tap, both Class 5A, District 7 contests, were pushed to Saturday morning. Nature Coast traveled to Weeki Wachee, while Central hosted Citrus.
Once again, the Sharks dominated a district opponent, securing a 48-10 victory. In three 5A-7 tilts, Nature Coast (6-0 overall, 3-0 5A-7) has outscored the opposition 158-37.
“I hate Saturday games. It’s always a slow start and you get all that weird stuff,” Nature Coast head coach Justin Worden said. “I think defensively we’re getting to where we want to be. We’re just playing really good assignment football right now, which makes you a good defensive team.”
It was sophomore Michael Weston’s turn to have a big game running the football. He totaled 180 yards on 15 carries and scored four touchdowns. T.J. Owens and Willie Coffey also had rushing scores.
With quarterback Brian Haygood nursing an ankle injury, he was asked to throw more than normally and put up some solid numbers, going 4-of-7 for 148 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The scoring strike was for 85 yards to Nickinson Sineus.
Matthew Robinson posted 12 tackles and Philip Orlando notched three sacks to pace a defense that did not allow a touchdown. The Hornets (0-6 overall, 0-3 5A-7) reached the end zone once on a Jacob Gonzalez fumble recovery.
Central survived a furious comeback by Citrus for a 41-34 triumph, while Springstead had a bye.
Another cancelation due to Matthew was the Hernando/Citrus Classic cross country race at McKethan Lake, which was set for Thursday but will now be held this Monday at 4 p.m.
On Wednesday, Hernando and Weeki Wachee squared off on the volleyball court for the second time this season, and the Lady Leopards (13-5 overall, 8-3 6A-7) swept the regular-season series with a 21-25, 25-22, 25-21, 15-25, 15-9 win.
A day earlier, the Lady Hornets (15-8 overall, 8-3 6A-7) had defeated Nature Coast, 25-12, 25-14, 21-25, 25-21. Miranda Werkmeister and Brooke Sereda each had 14 kills in that match, then 18 and 14 respectively against Hernando. Sarah Asbury had 39 and 34 assists.
The Lady Sharks (12-7 overall, 6-5 6A-7) bounced back to beat Citrus on Wednesday, 25-18, 25-18, 23-25, 25-19. Springstead downed Bishop McLaughlin on Tuesday (25-20, 19-25, 25-13, 25-22), behind 20 kills from Jennifer Aten and 19 from Alexis Thompson. Elise Crowell notched 47 assists.
On Wednesday, the Lady Eagles (10-9) topped Lecanto, 20-25, 25-10, 24-26, 25-20, 15-11, as again Aten (26 kills) and Thompson (16 kills) led the way. Crowell tallied 51 assists in that one.
In boys golf, Nature Coast went to 12-3 after beating Hernando Christian Academy on Wednesday at Hernando Oaks, 164-234. Glenn Richard shot a 39 and Mickey Dono carded a 40 to pace the Sharks, followed by Chris Felts (42), Erik Forest (43) and Kevin Giardino (43).
Follow Chris Bernhardt Jr. on Twitter @cpbernhardtjr.