At the North Suncoast media day, Nature Coast coach Chris Hawley was asked to name the best football team in Hernando County. He shrugged.
“Can’t really say,” he said. “Everyone is pretty good.”
He has a point.
All five county schools — Central, Hernando, Nature Coast, Springstead and Weeki Wachee — won at least four games last season. Three of them — Hernando, Nature Coast and Weeki Wachee — made the playoffs.
The two that missed were not far off. Springstead, a regular playoff contender, has 21 seniors. Central lost two games by five points or fewer.
“We’re no longer a pushover,” Central coach Jim Pusateri said.
Now there is more at stake. Four of the five — Central, Hernando, Nature Coast and Weeki Wachee — share a district this season, Class 3A-9. Springstead is in Class 4A-8.
“That makes it exciting,” said Weeki Wachee coach Justin Bland, whose team has won seven games in back-to-back seasons for the first time in school history.
Whoever comes out of 3A-9 could go a long way. The Florida High School Athletic Association added an open division this season, pulling the state’s top eight ranked teams into a single bracket once the regular season ends. Sarasota Cardinal Mooney, the defending Class 2A state champion, has moved up to 3A and opened the year in the top eight. If the Cougars are still there in November, the region’s biggest obstacle disappears with them.
The second one is already gone. Sarasota Booker, a state semifinalist in each of the last three seasons and also in the region, canceled its varsity season Aug. 12 and will play a junior varsity schedule instead. Coach Carlos Woods was dismissed in July, and 21 players transferred out.
Nature Coast could benefit most. The Sharks reached the region final last season and lost to Booker, 50-14.
But that is a November question. Between now and then, four of these teams play each other. Hawley won’t have to answer who the best team in the county is.
The district will.