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 #4:
Oak Hall (Gainesville) coach Matt DiBernardo following Oak Hall’s 28-19 victory at St. Joseph (St. Augustine) which snapped the Flashes’ 13-game winning streak and kept the Eagles (3-0) unbeaten
“The (North Florida Conference) championship now runs through Oak Hall.” – The Gainesville Sun
Buchholz (Gainesville) coach Mark Whittemore following Buchholz’s 10-7 come-from-behind win against Oakleaf (Orange Park) in which they drove 88 yards for the game-winning score with two minutes to play
“Our motto is gritty not pretty. That is what we live by. We are coming here and getting dirty. These guys really enjoy it. They enjoy each other.” – The Gainesville Sun
Newberry coach Richard Vester after the Panthers rallied down 14-8 on the road to win 30-14 and stay unbeaten
“We had to make some adjustments because they gave us some things on defense that we hadn’t seen, but we had a few balls bounce our way and they played extremely hard in the last three quarters.” – The Gainesville Sun
Dunnellon senior free safety Josh Williams, who finished with a career-best three interceptions in a 19-7 win against Belleview in a match-up of unbeaten teams
“They tried us. I’m surprised they kept trying to pick on (our secondary). We were where we were supposed to be, and the ball kept coming to me.” – Ocala Star-Banner
Former Trinity Catholic (Ocala) coach John Brantley, who is in his first year as head coach at Belleview, which lost for the first time in 2016
“Those kids hit us in the mouths, and we hit hard right back. It was a challenge, and our kids didn’t flinch. Coach Harris (Dunnellon) has a Madison County background, and up there, it’s always physical. He brings that to his team here, and they were ready to go. I’ll take this loss on myself. I didn’t have our guys ready enough to play. But we have a week off and will get some work done to get better.” – Ocala Star-Banner
Forest (Ocala) coach Skip Austin following the Wildcats’ 51-6 district win over Leesburg to give them a 3-0 record for the first time in eight years
“Well not too many people would have guessed we would be 3-0, except those guys over there (pointing towards his players). That is what we rally around, you know, 1-0 in the district and it feels good and that is what we want to do — stay ahead of the chains.” – Ocala Star-Banner
Vanguard (Ocala) coach Edwin Farmer after his QB N’Kosi Perry broke the school’s all-time career touchdown passing mark (previously held by Daunte Culpepper with 57 TD passes); the TD pass also moved Perry into second place on the all-time county’s career TD pass list behind former Trinity Catholic All-American John Brantley IV
“We’re excited to see him break a record and put his name up there with a legend like Culpepper.” – Ocala Star-Banner
Three-time defending 3A state champion Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) coach Verlon Dorminey following the Conquerors’ 25-22 loss to Lincoln (Tallahassee)
“We just haven’t found that rhythm yet offensively. We’ve got a ways to go. Lincoln’s a good football team now. Gosh, we knew that coming in. We’ve got to get better each week on offense. Just find a rhythm. We haven’t done that yet. But we’re going to keep on working at it.” – Florida Times-Union
Lincoln (Tallahassee) coach Yusuf Shakir after his Trojans snapped the Conquerors’ 22-game home winning streak
“This is a big-time win. Coach Dorminey does a great job. Every year this team has a collection of talent that is one of the best in the state of Florida. This is big for us, a great night.” – Florida Times-Union
