Nature Coast Downs Eustis Behind Baker, 19-13

On Friday night, C.J. Baker did his best to quiet the doubts about the Nature Coast Technical quarterback situation this season.

In the process, the junior first-year starter led the Sharks to an impressive preseason showing against Eustis. In a match-up of two playoff teams from a year ago, Nature Coast came out on top at Shark Tank Stadium, 19-13.

Baker put together two nice runs to set up one score, then threw a pair of touchdowns in two quarters of work. He finished 4-of-7 for 119 yards.

"I thought he played great tonight, a great debut for him in varsity," Nature Coast Head Coach Jamie Joyner said. "In our offense, our quarterback, everything goes through him. His teammates have a lot of respect for him and you were able to see why tonight."

Fast start

After Eustis actually lost a yard in going three-and-out on the opening series, Nature Coast used seven plays to go 55 yards for the game's first score.

The Sharks recorded their initial first down on an 18-yard swing pass to All-State running back Tevin Drake.

Baker had runs of 21 and nine yards to get the ball down to the Eustis 3-yard line, from where Drake plunged up the middle for a touchdown. However, a missed extra point attempt left it 6-0 at the 7:20 mark.

On the second play of the next Shark drive, Baker lofted a pass down the right sideline into the arms of a wide open Michael Fields for a 48-yard scoring strike.

Eustis got on the scoreboard with 7:52 left in the opening half on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Kelsei Brown to Tyson Gaines.

Nature Coast responded at 2:27 when Howie Williams made a nice leaping catch in the end zone of a 21-yard pass from Baker.

"I felt like my blockers had a pretty big influence on me," Baker said. "They're pretty much the heart and soul of our offense. My receivers, I've got to give credit to them. They came down with some pretty big balls."

Ironically on that third scoring drive, Drake took all the snaps up until the touchdown pass as Nature Coast experimented with its top offensive threat.

Drake only carried the ball nine times for 20 yards, though he lost eight yards on a fumbled snap while playing quarterback. He completed his only pass attempt, a 16-yard strike to Tony Roberts.

Because of two separate weather delays, the second half was played under a running clock. A 6-yard run by David Webber against the Nature Coast junior varsity on the final play of the game closed the scoring.

The Sharks held the Panthers to 127 yards of total offense, 53 of it coming on that final possession. Fields, an All-State defensive back, recovered a fumble on a punt return and Antwan Story added an interception.

The biggest negative to come out of an otherwise dominating performance was the kicking game. Matt Montano, a junior varsity call-up, missed on 2-of-3 PATs, having one blocked.

Nature Coast could otherwise feel pretty good in taking care of one of the perennially strong teams in its classification (3A).

"I think it does a lot for our confidence," Joyner said. "They (Eustis) went to the second round of the playoffs, the third round the year before, and they're someone we hope to be good enough to make it to in the playoffs. To play as well as we did, it's very encouraging."

NATURE COAST 19, EUSTIS 13
Qtr. Scoring 1 2 3 4
Eustis 0 7 0 6 - 13
Nature Coast 13 6 0 0 - 19

Individual Scoring:
NCT - Drake 3 run (Montano kick no good)
NCT - Fields 48 pass from Baker (Montano kick)
EUS - Gaines 3 pass from K. Brown (Sellers kick)
NCT - H. Williams 21 pass from Baker (Montano kick blocked)
EUS - Webber 6 run

EUS NCT
First Downs 6 7
Yards rushing 29-111 37-113
Passes 4-10-1 6-9-0
Passing yards 16 139
Total Offense 39-127 46-252
Return yards 5-118 1-20
Punts 3-43.0 3-45.3
Fumbles 4-1 4-1
Penalties 1-5 8-90