ON THE GRIDIRON: Why we love high school football

Bill Vonada addresses his team following a suspense-filled victory. (Photo by Derek J. LaRiviere) 

This is why we love high school football. It’s about small town rivalries. It’s about quirky stories that you remember for years. This week, it was about a Hernando County rivalry, and not the one you may think.

It’s about Springstead. It’s about Hernando. It’s about a rivalry that has been going on for 32 years.

On Friday night, when almost every program in the state was kicking off their 2009 campaigns, Springstead versus Hernando wasn’t even the biggest game in Hernando County.

The crowds flocked to Central to watch the Bears, among the lower-ranked teams in the area, play Nature Coast, widely considered a true contender for a state title this season. On paper, it was a blowout, and by the time things wrapped, the final score of 44-6 in favor of the Sharks backed that up.

Meanwhile in Spring Hill, the Eagles and the Leopards were more concerned about answering questions about their own teams. Springstead, coming off a season where it lost almost all of its leadership and skill position players, was wondering if youth and potential would be enough to knock off a Hernando program that was armed with great speed and skill in the backfield and a stout defensive front.

This was going to be the closer of the two games, no doubt, but it wasn’t enough to interest the casual Friday night fans. Booster Stadium was nearly empty at game time. Even Hernando’s side of the field, a program that usually travels well with its fan base, did not look strong.

Problems occurred from the get-go. The scoreboard, which had worked the night before for the J.V. game according to Springstead officials, was unable to keep the time, forcing the timekeeper to move down to the field to do so. If only those involved knew that the electrical situation with the scoreboard was just the tip of the iceberg.

After some subpar offensive efforts early, Springstead found itself, thanks in large part to field position, in field goal range. Sophomore kicker Cody Emmerman, playing his first-ever high school football game, marched out onto the field for a 33-yard attempt. He nailed it, giving the Eagles a 3-0 lead.

More sluggish, messy play with the football followed as both Hernando and Springstead fumbled away opportunities in the first half. With good field position at the opposing 48-yard line, this is when the Leopards found a weakness in the Springstead defense. Rushing to the left with junior tailback Alvin Delaine, Hernando tore off multiple long runs. However, the turning point came on the first run of the drive.

The play that broke open the drive was a 22-yard rush that brought the Leopards to the Springstead 26. A flag on that play called illegal motion on Hernando running back Chad Woods. Palmer argued to no avail originally, but he then called a time out. After the time out, officials picked up the flag. With little explanation, Springstead went for a potential second down and long situation on defense to first down deep in its own zone.

A couple plays later, the momentum officially turned toward the underdog when Delaine scampered 19 yards around the left side for the touchdown. He followed that run with a 2-point conversion out of the Wildcat formation, giving Hernando the 8-3 lead. What came next really shook things up.

The Eagles fielded the ensuing kickoff and were ready to punt after a three-and-out. All of a sudden, a pop rang through the stadium and the lights went dark. Somehow, the lights in the press box and the adjacent practice field remained lit, but the damage was done. County maintenance was called in to assess the situation, and when the breaker box for the stadium was opened, a squirrel or mouse nest was discovered inside. Gnawed wiring caused problems with both the scoreboard and lighting.

The situation was deemed unfixable by school officials, and after a 36-minutes delay, the game was postponed until Saturday morning at 9 a.m. There was no rain. There was no lightning. There were rodents. Only in high school, right?

No one was happy about the postponement, but when Springstead coach Bill Vonada was interviewed following the decision, a wry smile crossed his face. There might have even been a chuckle. He knew momentum had slipped away from his team, and there is no bigger force than momentum for a young, inexperienced team like Springstead. The overnight delay gave him an opportunity to regroup and get the attention of his kids heading into the next morning.

Obviously, Hernando coach John Palmer was not as pleased. He had found vulnerability in the Springstead defense, and he could feel the six-game losing streak his club had to the Eagles coming to an end.

The dew on the field highlighted the pregame rituals of Saturday morning. The scoreboard was fixed. The teams looked a little sluggish, but that was to be expected with many of the players waking up only hours beforehand.

The teams went back-and-forth. Hernando showed promise moving the ball offensively and almost completely stymied the Eagles option attack. However, the sloppy play from the Leopards kept the home team in the game. In the end, 12 penalties for 108 yards marred an otherwise solid game on both sides of the ball by Hernando. Some of the play calls by the Hernando coaching staff could have been questioned, but when you have two guys with breakaway ability steadily getting the ball, it’s hard to criticize the little things.

Delaine finished with 16 carries for 90 yards and three touchdowns, while backfield partner Marlin Smith, a bruising 5-foot-10, 210-pound back, ran the ball 17 times for 94 yards. The tandem allowed the Leopards to amass 184 yards on the ground, 86 more yards than the team ran for in a 21-0 loss to Springstead last season.

With a 19-16 lead, Hernando was set to punt the ball away with 2:02 left on the clock in regulation. Punter Kall Daniel was back to field the snap. The Leopards had a bad snap that Daniel handled earlier in the contest. This time, the connection wasn’t as lucky. The snap bounced past Daniel and back to the Hernando 32-yard line, giving the Eagles excellent field position to tie the game.

Springstead quarterback Chris Kelley, stuck in a battle for the position with Brian Beeker, seemingly took control in this game. While his statistics (6-of-14 for 27 yards) don’t say a whole lot, he connected on a big pass to his brother Jake Kelley with the game on the line. The pressure was then on the shoulders of Emmerman. The placekicker, attempting only his second career field goal, was in a do-or-die situation. If he misses the kick, the Eagles lose. If he makes it, we go to overtime.

From 34 yards out, Emmerman drilled the kick. There must have been ice water running through this young man’s veins. The crowd, pretty raucous for the size of it, went nuts. Nature Coast coaches and starting quarterback C.J. Baker were even on hand for the contest.

High school overtimes, much like college, give each team one shot at the end zone. Instead of starting at the 25-yard line like the NCAA, local high schools start at the 10-yard line. Hernando got the ball first, and faster than you could blink an eye, Delaine took the first hand-off 10 yards to pay dirt. Like every other time the Leopards scored in the game, Palmer sent out his offense for the 2-point attempt. Delaine, set in the Wildcat formation, was stacked up at the line and unsuccessful for the first and only time in the 15 hours between the opening kickoff and the end of the game.

Springstead, which could have been down on themselves and worried, came alive with the stop. Although the team was down, you would have never guessed it just from looking at the way the offense rushed the field. On the first play, Kelley hit tight end Cody Jones for nine yards, bringing the Eagles one yard away from tying the score yet again.

On the next play, Springstead ran the same play that had yielded the first two touchdowns, an option dive to Devean Huff, who finished with 19 carries for 52 yards and those two scores. Huff was stood up at the line. On third down, it was the same thing. He was stood up at the line again. That left one play for one yard.

In the biggest situation of the game, Vonada put the ball in his quarterback’s hands on a keeper, and Kelley plunged into the end zone. An extra point would now win the game, and the stakes for such a kick could be no higher. Emmerman entered the game, and while the entire crowd was nervous for him, he showed no signs of it. The kick couldn’t have been truer, dead center between the uprights.

What a battle! The reaction was like Springstead had just won the Super Bowl. When interviewed following the game, Vonada said it. “I still can’t believe we just won this game.”

Momentum and confidence are now plentiful for the Eagles. Success breeds success, and a win like this over Hernando probably does more good for them than a blowout would have.

While Tampa Bay Tech’s upset of Plant and Jefferson’s one-point win over Hillsborough will get the headlines, one thing is for sure on a larger front. This was one hell of a way to kick off the high school season on the Suncoast.

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