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Sharks (barely) hold on to county crown, 22-20

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Photo by JOE DiCRISTOFALO

BUSTED! - Nature Coast Technical junior RB Anthony Carlucci (21) scores on fourth down and six on this busted center snap play in the fourth quarter of Friday night's eventual 22-20 Sharks win over Hernando at Tom Fisher Memorial Stadium.

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By TONY CASTRO SPORTS EDITOR

Hernando Today

Published: November 7, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - When the 2009 season is said and done, if the Nature Coast Technical Sharks have any kind of postseason success, they're gonna remember how they got there.
In front of the largest crowd at Tom Fisher Memorial Stadium in years, NCT snapped Hernando High's four-game winning streak, 22-20.
NCT (7-2 overall, 5-2 3A-6) earned its first-ever undisputed county championship behind a busted play.
That's right, a play that was drawn up one way, was executed another. But it turned out huge for the Sharks.
"I just couldn't believe it when Hernando scored (with 49 seconds left)," explained Coach Mark Lee. "I thought 'you've got to be kidding me?' when they scored when our guy slipped and fell down."
Reaction?
"It's a great win for our kids," summed up Lee. "But it's short-lived. This gets us in on Monday, but we haven't achieved what we wanted to do by reaching the playoffs. Every one will forget this game, if we lose on Monday."
And Hernando?
"We knew it was gonna be a dogfight," said Lee. "And it was. Coach Palmer has done an unbelievable job of turning this program around."

Carlucci rules

NCT junior running back Anthony Carlucci, who entered the fifth series meeting against the Leopards (6-3 overall, 5-2 3A-6) with moderate success (21 carries, 170 yards and two touchdowns on the ground and four receptions for 30 yards and two TD catches) touched the football three times Friday night.
With uncanny precision, he pierced the end zone twice.
The clincher arrived two plays into the fourth quarter with NCT clinging to a 16-14 lead. The Sharks faced a critical fourth down and goal at the Leopard 6-yardline.
Here, first-year skipper Lee opted against bringing in his placekicker Tyler Callaghan for a chippy field goal attempt. Instead, he rolled the dice on a touchdown.
Shark senior quarterback C.J. Baker excelled all night completing 5-of-7 passes for 119 yards and one touchdown pass — a 20-yard strike to Carlucci in the second period. The scoring pass was Baker's 10th of the season.
This time from a shotgun formation, Baker didn't line up properly behind his center, Chance Armstrong.
Instead, he incorrectly lined up behind his guard. Upon hearing the cadence, Armstrong snapped the ball that sailed over Baker's head.
Huge problem, right? Not quite.
As fate would have it, the ball landed in Carlucci's welcome mits.
Without hesitation, Carlucci instinctively caught the ball and headed for the left pylon and scored.
Carlucci tried to score on a subsequent two-point run but was stopped short. But the damage was done, the Sharks had extended the lead to 22-14.
"When the ball went over C.J.'s head and I went over and caught in the air and just followed my blocking," recalled the 16-year-old Carlucci. "It turned out to be a pretty big play. But no, that wasn't the play we called in the huddle."
"That's not the way we drew it up," frankly stated Coach Lee. "It was the big play in the game. Anthony (Carlucci) did a great job for us."
That busted play loomed larger and larger as the clock wound down.
Thirteen plays later, Hernando rolled the dice with an option pass from junior halfback Alvin "Chubbs" Delaine III.
Despite a Shark defense marking Delaine all night, Chubbs rushed 18 times for 100 yards and scored twice on runs (25, 10 yards). Yet his 22nd and 23rd touchdowns of the season weren't enough.
The Shark cushion held up as Delaine attempted an option pass from the Shark 18-yardline that was intercepted by NCT cornerback Isaac Bailey with 5:54 left in the game.
It was Bailey's second interception of the night. He had a first-half swipe against HHS quarterback Kall Daniel.
The Purple and Gold eventually forced a 44-yard punt by the Sharks' Jacob Perkins that pushed Hernando back to its own 22 with 2:38 left in the game.
On first down, HHS was flagged for illegal procedure. From that point on, Daniel applied surgeon-like precision marching the hosts 83 yards on seven plays, while benefiting on a pass interference call (NCT was flagged for a game-high 10 penalties for 91 yards).
On the final scoring drive, Daniel clicked on 5-of-6 passes including a fade route to Delaine, who caught the ball after his defender fell down completing a 36-yard touchdown pass.
Daniel's fifth touchdown pass of the season led to bedlam in the stands. He finished 11-of-16 through the air for 163 yards.
Yet, with 49 seconds left, HHS needed one more miracle to tie matters. Instead, Daniel's pass skipped off the turf on the subsequent two-point play, nearly intercepted by Bailey. The misfire precipitated a wild celebration along the visitors' stands.
Since the Leopards had no timeouts left, Baker simply took a knee twice to guide the Sharks to their fourth straight series win over Hernando.
"Hernando played us tough," said the 16-year-old Bailey. "It was kinda fun going against a bunch of guys I've played with before. Both teams really wanted to win."
What was the difference on the two picks?
"Our defensive coaches tried to keep me focused on what Hernando may do," said Bailey. "Yeah, we knew they might try that (option) pass."
Were the interceptions the biggest plays?
"No it was Carlucci's touchdown (run)," admitted Bailey. "I was surprised when the (busted) play worked. Anthony is a good player. He tries very hard in practice."

Implications

The NCT was paced by tailback Tevin Drake's game-high 21 carries for 122 yards and one touchdown
(his 17th of the year).
The Shark win coupled with Crystal River's 35-8 nod over Tavares means the Sharks, Pirates and Leopards completed district regular-season action with identical 5-2 won-lost marks forcing a state-mandated tiebreaker on Monday.
The Sharks will host the event (based on having the best overall winning percentage) and will sit out Monday's opening round beginning at 7 p.m. between Crystal River and Hernando.
Those two teams will play one quarter. The team that wins the quarter advances to play NCT. Should the quarter end in a tie, the two teams will use the Kansas tie-breaker from each team's 10-yardline until a winner is determined.
Should NCT defeat the first-round winner in the second round, it'll be named district runner-up. Otherwise, Crystal River or Hernando has to win twice to advance to the state's opening round of the playoffs on Nov. 20.
"We really wanted to win tonight," lamented Coach John Palmer, who dipped to 0-2 versus NCT. "I'm awful proud of how this group of kids played. It was an outstanding football game. I thought Kall (Daniel) played a phenomenal game for a quarterback that hasn't passed a lot. Going 80-plus yards in the last drive was something.
"Now, we have to regroup and be up for the challenge of another physical and emotional game on Monday."

Nature Coast Technical 22, Hernando 20
Qtr. Scoring 1 2 3 4
NCT 8 8 0 6 --22
Hernando 0 8 6 6 --20

Individual Scoring:
NCT - Drake 24 run (Drake run)
HER – Delaine 25 run (M. Smith pass from Daniel).
NCT - Carlucci 20 pass from Baker (Drake run).
HER - Delaine 10 run (Daniel pass fails).
NCT - Carlucci 6 run (Carlucci run fails).
HER - Delaine 36 pass from Daniel (Daniel pass fails).

NCT HER
First Downs 9 13
Atts./Rushing Yds. 41-158 42-176
Comp./Pass Atts./Int. 5-7-0 11-17-2
Passing Yds. 119 163
Total Offense 48-277 59-339
Fumbles/Lost 2-1 2-0
Return Yards 3-40 3-20
Punts/Avg. 3-29.7 2-33.5
Penalties 10-91 7-53

Sports Editor Tony Castro can be reached at 352-544-5278 or online at acastro@hernandotoday.com.

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