Statement Issued on Baker's Street

On Monday, Nature Coast Technical junior quarterback C.J. Baker celebrated his 17th birthday.
Fortunately, for his teammates he didn't open up his best gift until Friday night until after Class 2A's No. 3 ranked team, Bushnell-South Sumter, arrived at Shark Tank Stadium.
The first-year signal caller put on a brilliant overall performance against the previously unbeaten Red Raiders.
Behind a dominating offensive line that steam rolled the Sumter County club for 72 plays and 478 yards of real estate, Baker guided a mistake-free offense to a 41-14 pasting.

Baker rules

The 6-foot, 150-pound Baker collected 251 all-purpose yards as the Sharks climbed to 6-0 while knocking South Sumter out of the unbeaten ranks to 6-1.
Though the Sharks fumbled four times, they never lost a bobble as Baker rushed 13 times for 68 yards.
Baker was complimented by junior All-State tailback Tevin Drake, who quietly rushed 17 times for 112 yards and scored twice (4,1 yards).
Drake, who missed last week's homecoming game due to a thumb injury recovered to score his county-best 11th and 12th rushing touchdowns of the season.
Fullback Antwon Story rushed 20 times for 94 yards and added a 1-yard touchdown run highlighting a 21-point fourth-quarter explosion. Story's score was his fifth of the season.
But when the game was on the line, Baker helped break it open surprisingly through the air against the porous Red Raider secondary.
Baker, who came in with modest numbers (15-of-28 passes, 249 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs), clicked on 8-of-18 passes for a career-high 183 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions.
Baker connected with his favorite target, senior Michael Fields, five times for 126 yards and both scores (11, 78 yards) in the second half.
Defensively, NCT collected three sacks on back-up quarterback, freshman Ian Papenheim, by Gary Myrick, Alfredo Lindo and Howie Williams.
Turnover-wise, the Sharks collected three South Sumter miscues featuring a fumble recovery by Shayne Gracteroly on special teams and interceptions by Tadd Govedich and Fields.
Though the NCT special teams permitted 218 return yards, including four returns of 26 or more yards, place-kicker Danny Colon enjoyed his finest hour. Colon, the team's fourth kicker since the spring, connected on both field goals attempts (19, 39 yards) and converted a season-high 5-of-5 point-after touchdown boots.

Lasting impression

The performance left an indelible impression on NCT Head Coach Jamie Joyner, who may have savored his finest moment to date at NCT.
"We've had games that we've misfired, but tonight we hit on all cylinders," smiled Joyner, whose team made amends for last year's 45-42 double overtime loss in Sumter County. "Our main goal is to get back to the playoffs. But this kinda makes up for last year. We kinda looked at it as our third overtime period."
What was the key?
"When (South Sumter's starting quarterback) Denzel (Smith) went down, they lost their leader," summed up Joyner. "I would have preferred him in there. But you can't overlook the fact that he was not in there. But the other point was we played for a full 48 minutes. That's what we set out to do."
Overall?
"I thought C.J. (Baker) made great decisions all night and Michael Fields is Michael Fields, all he does is make play after play for us. He did it again tonight."
How pivotal is the win?
"We're gonna enjoy this tonight," remarked Joyner. "But we don't want this to be the high water mark of the season. Hopefully, this gives us a little more momentum to continue to climb the mountain."

Players' chatter

Fields revealed that there were plenty of reasons for the one-sided win.
"First, C.J. (Baker) was on point tonight," indicated the 17-year-old Fields. "And coach opened up the play book. Tonight was a stepping stone game for us.
"And we all wanted this one for (Scott) Avery (who was killed in an accident over the summer). This (win) was for him," added Fields.
"We all worked together as a team," added the 16-year-old Nick Ciucci, who replaced the injured Lane Dodson along the offensive line. "I filled in and did the best I could. There was great unity and commadarie tonight."
And the win?
"This puts us a little higher on the mountain"
What about Baker?
"He made sound decisions all night," insisted Ciucci. "Our run game was on again but even our pass game was on tonight."
"We won't stop until we're 10-0," remarked 17-year-old Baker. "It's only one game. We've still got half the season left. We need to stay focused."
What was the key to success?
"Our O-line did a great job all night," Baker said. "It seemed like everything kinda came together. This might have been our best passing game of the season. The key is we've still got to strive toward perfection. Tonight was an amazing win."

Nature Coast Technical 41, Bushnell-South Sumter 14
Qtr. Scoring     1   2   3   4
South Sumter     0   7   7   0 --14
NCT 0  10  10  21 --41

Individual Scoring:
NCT - Colon 19 FG
SS - Price 1 run (Bates kick)
NCT - Drake 4 run (Colon kick)
NCT - Fields 11 pass from baker (Colon kick)
SS - Irving 1 run (Bates kick)
NCT - Colon 39 FG
NCT - Fields 78 pass from Baker (Colon kick)
NCT - A. Story 1 run (Colon kick)
NCT - Drake 1 run (Colon kick)
 
    SS NCT
First Downs   15  18
Atts./Rushing Yds.  37-170   53-295
Comp./Pass Atts./Int.  8-21-2 8-19-0
Passing Yds.   95   183
Total Offense   58-265   72-478
Fumbles/Lost   2-1 4-0
Return Yards   9-218   3-33
Punts/Avg.   3-41.3   2-42.0
Penalties   10-95   13-103