Nature Coast Technical Forges Ahead

On paper, tonight's 7:30 p.m. homecoming game between 1-4 Lecanto and 4-0 Nature Coast Technical should be a one-sided affair for the Sharks. But all of that might be made null and void by the loss of the Sharks' leading ground-gainer, junior tailback Tevin Drake, who will miss the game tonight due to an injured thumb.

NCT is unbeaten this year and leads Class 3A, District 6 with a 1-0 slate, while Lecanto ended a 25-game losing streak in the first week of the season, but has lost four straight.

Oddly enough, both teams come into tonight's game nursing injuries. Lecanto is missing its starting quarterback Addison Holstein for the second straight game and will go with Jimmy Hamrick.

For NCT Head Coach Jamie Joyner, the Sharks will be without the county's defending Player of the Year, Drake, and two other defensive starters: John Carbone and Tony Roberts.

But despite the injuries, the Sharks appear to have an advantage over the Panthers. While Drake has gained 761 yards rushing with nine touchdowns, his replacement, freshman L'Tevin Williams, has equally good number.

The younger brother of former NCT RB Rian Williams gained 442 yards and scored 10 touchdowns in four games with the junior varsity.

"He's a hard runner and he's not afraid to mix it up between the tackles," said Joyner.

PANTHER DROUGHT

Lecanto, who has lost 11 straight games to Hernando County teams, will have at least six starters missing tonight's game.

"Actually, we're not playing too badly," said Panther Head Coach Ron Allan. "We're just making too many mistakes. We have to overcome the mental mistakes that we are making; that's causing us to lose ballgames."

Last week Lecanto lost to Central, 46-8.

But Allan, who Springstead Head Coach Bill Vonada said last year had the toughest coaching job in Florida, believes his team needs to avoid problems against a team as good as Nature Coast.

"We made some mistakes against Central, and then they would come back and score on us and things kind of snow-balled from there," he said. "We have to stay out of those kinds of situations. We have to answer back, we can't just sit there."

For Joyner, the Lecanto game is one where he believes his team needs to concentrate internally and not on what Lecanto may do.

"We've tried to take that approach all year," Joyner said. "We try not to worry about what the other teams do, and instead we focus on ourselves and try to play a full 48 minutes a game."

The game is also important to NCT because of the district standings. After beating Crystal River two weeks ago, 47-28, the Sharks are 1-0 in the district.

When asked if missing Drake would affect the Sharks, Coach Allan said he didn't think so.

"I'm sure Coach Joyner has somebody he can throw in there in the tailback spot," he said. "They have great athletes on both sides of the football and it's going to be hard for us to move the ball on offense and stopping them on defense."