Each week we’ll go around the coverage area and give you a football player and/or coach quotes following the games. Here are area newspaper player and/or coach quotes from Week #6:
Forest (Ocala) football coach Skip Austin following the Wildcats’ first win against Gainesville since 1993. The 38-35 victory improved Forest to 5-0 on the season
“The way people underestimate us is because they were looking at Grant Grodi as an individual, David Bishop as an individual, Connor Davis as an individual. They didn’t look at them together to see what they could do. They listened and bought into what we are selling.” – The Gainesville Sun
Gainesville coach Mark Latsko after the Hurricanes’ streak of seven consecutive postseasons was put in jeopardy
“It stings, but we have to refocus with Buchholz next week. Then it is a must-win at Vanguard to give ourselves a chance to get into the playoffs and maybe force a three-way shootout. We have to find a way.” – The Gainesville Sun
Newberry coach Richard Vester following the Panthers’ 28-0 Homecoming win against Branford
“Defense is playing hard. It’s a team effort, though. It takes all three phases. Some nights, one phase picks up another one. I don’t want to make excuses, but anytime you have homecoming and all those kind of activities going on, I just didn’t think our kids were focused.” – The Gainesville Sun
Williston coach Justin Wentworth following the Red Devils’ 14-13 loss to Dixie County (Cross City) in which they missed two extra points that could have tied or won the game
“It’d be a totally different ball game if we weren’t moving the football. But we were able to move the football up and down the field and just didn’t execute. That’s where we have to get better in our play calling as a coaching staff. This one hurts. And it’s supposed to hurt because if it doesn’t hurt then you’re numb. And if you’re numb, football is not for you.” – The Gainesville Sun
Belleview coach John Brantley following the Rattlers’ 48-7 win in the ‘War for the Oar’
“I thought our defense played solid, they didn’t play nothing like they played over in Dunnellon though. Our defense just has to learn how to play consistent because you just can’t turn it on when you want to.” – Ocala Star-Banner
Lake Weir (Ocala) coach Tim Hicks after the Hurricanes dropped to 1-4
“We have athletes all over the field but we just have to figure it out. We are a young team, undersized, but we didn’t execute well enough on offense. We seem to be saying that a lot this year.” – Ocala Star-Banner
Vanguard (Ocala) coach Edwin Farmer following the Knights’ 51-0 victory over district foe Leesburg
“We played our type of football tonight. We had some good drives in the first half, but we could have done better. That’s what we talked about at halftime, about finishing the game. It’s always great to start 1-0 in the district and you have to take every district game seriously no matter who you are playing.” – Ocala Star-Banner
Fletcher (Neptune Beach) RB Calvin Lewis, who scored on a 54-yard touchdown on his first offensive touch as the Senators shut out First Coast (Jacksonville), 28-0, to move to 6-0 on the season
“That set the tone,” said Lewis, who finished with 147 yards rushing on 17 carries and a pair of touchdowns. “We had to come out and turn it up. Our passing game, our running game, just overall, we’ve gotten better [every week].” – Florida Times-Union
Middleburg coach Karl Smeltzer, whose team was 0-10 last year and snapped a 15-game losing streak this year, following the Broncos’ 35-27 win at Ed White (Jacksonville) which put them in the thick of the 6A-District 4 race and possible postseason bid for the first time in 13 years
“It’s something we can build off of. These are my guys. I’m proud of that. When I met these kids at Wilkinson and Lake Asbury [junior high schools], I told them that they’d be winners by the time they graduated. They bought in to the system. It was tough last year, I know. They are fully committed now. I could not have said that in any of the [three] years before.”” – Florida Times-Union
