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Hernando Today

HCA: One Win Away!

Photo by JOE DiCRISTOFALO

HCA's Jeremy Knight tries to elude a tackle during Saturday's game versus the Canterbury School of Florida.

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By CHRIS BERNHARDT JR.

Hernando Today

Published: November 2, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - The head coach dubbed it the greatest game in school history. It certainly had the most meaning. But the senior quarterback had a reminder: there's one more left.

Hernando Christian Academy became just the second team in Hernando County history, preceded only by the 1949 Hernando High squad, to finish its regular season schedule unbeaten.

The Lions (9-0) accomplished this rare feat and so much more Saturday night at Ernie Wever Youth Park with a thrill-a-minute 26-24 triumph over St. Petersburg-Canterbury School of Florida.

With the win, HCA clinched the Sunshine State Athletic Conference Southern Division crown with a 3-0 divisional mark, and a spot in the conference title game Nov. 15 at The Villages against Northern Division champ Mount Dora Bible.

"It's not over yet," quarterback David Rotteveel said. "I'll enjoy this tonight. It's the last night I'll play on this field. But we have one more game to play."

In a high-scoring and penalty-filled first half, the Lions had to open up their offense when their trademark running game uncharacteristically struggled to move the football in the second quarter.

With HCA clinging to an 18-14 lead, Rotteveel hit Ian Townsend on a crossing pattern. Townsend then outran the defense for a spectacular 80-yard scoring strike with 5:42 remaining in the half.

Townsend actually broke off his original route down the sideline, forcing Rotteveel to adjust on the fly.

"Me and Ian, I don't think there's a quarterback and receiver that spend as much time goofing around passing the ball," Rotteveel said. "I saw him pull up. He had nowhere to go but a huge open space in the middle of the field.

"I guess I threw the ball were I was supposed to and Ian made an incredible play. But it doesn't happen if my line doesn't protect me."

Tight end Garrett Mikkola added a 2-point conversion reception from Rotteveel off the Townsend score that ultimately proved the difference in the game.

The Lions took a 26-17 advantage into the intermission, as Ryan Laurent hit a 37-yard field goal for the Crusaders (4-4 overall, 0-2 Southern Division) as time expired.

Canterbury pulled to within 26-24 on a 5-yard touchdown run by James Goodwin and point-after kick by Laurent at the 3:55 mark of the third quarter.

That score held for the remainder of the game, despite some crazy sequences such as back-to-back fourth-quarter fumbles by both teams deep in Crusader territory.

The teams combined for 21 penalties for 213 yards, and at one point HCA had a long fumble return by Nate Kautsky called back because of an inadvertent whistle.

This marked the closest victory of the season by Lions, who came in winning by an average of 26.5 points.

"We were missing several people but the fact is they (Canterbury) are very good," HCA Head Coach David Raley said. "We had no answer to their speed. We thought we could pound them, but they were tougher than we thought they were. It came down to a showdown."

Canterbury actually outgained HCA, 349-298, but the Lions had some terrific individual performances.

Jeremy Knight, nursing a sprained ankle, carried the ball 15 times for 125 yards and had 59-yard touchdown in the first quarter. Townsend hauled in three catches for 105 yards.

Donald Wainscott, Dylan Burke and Kautsky all recovered fumbles, the latter two ending late drives by the Crusaders.

Kautsky added a 1-yard rushing touchdown and Rotteveel ran in a score from 10 yards out as part of an 18-point opening quarter.

All-and-all not bad for a team besieged by transfers prior to the start of the school year. Both Rotteveel and Raley admitted they only expected 2-3 wins.

"As much as we've come through to even have the opportunity to win a handful of games to me would be a stretch," Raley said. "It's an incredible group of seniors who buckled down and made this their team."

HCA 26, CANTERBURY 24
Qtr. Scoring 1 2 3 4
Canterbury 6 11 7 0 – 24
HCA 18 8 0 0 – 26

Individual Scoring:
HCA – Kautsky 1 run (Knight run failed)
HCA – Knight 59 run (Knight run failed)
CAN – Goodwin 43 pass from Thornton (Laurent kick failed)
HCA – Rotteveel 10 run (Townsend pass from Rotteveel failed)
CAN – Goodwin 13 run (Dolan run)
HCA – Townsend 80 pass from Rotteveel (Mikkola pass from Rotteveel)
CAN – Laurent 37 field goal
CAN – Goodwin 5 run (Laurent kick)

CAN HCA
First Downs 13 12
Atts./Rushing Yds. 44-209 39-177
Comp./Pass Atts./Int. 8-18-0 6-11-2
Passing Yds. 140 121
Total Offense 62-349 50-298
Fumbles Lost 5-3 4-2
Return Yards 6-133 0-0
Punts/Avg. 1-45.0 3-38.3
Penalties 12-120 9-93

Sports writer Chris Bernhardt Jr. can be reached at (352) 544-5288 or cbernhardt@hernandotoday.com.

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