Football: County champs: Citrus football breaks six-year losing streak to CR with 50-6 victory CRYSTAL RIVER — Rayburn Greene wore his daughter’s stuffed monkey on his back to his coaches meeting this week as a symbol of his program’s inability to get past Crystal River in a pair of heart-breaking narrow losses the last two seasons. After Friday night, there’s no more proverbial monkey for the head coach and his program. The Hurricanes racked up 471 yards on the Pirates while holding their cross-county rival to minus-3 yards rushing, and Deion Moore tossed four touchdown passes to give CHS its biggest margin of victory in the 65-game series with a 50-6 rout at Earl Bramlett Stadium. It was the first win in the rivalry for the ’Canes (9-1) since 2006, which is also the last time Citrus claimed a county championship and advanced to the playoffs. Paired with a 54-6 victory over Lecanto earlier in the season, the Hurricanes outscored their two county foes 104-12. It also culminates the best regular season mark for the ’Canes since a 10-0 campaign in 1987. They travel to Springstead next Friday for a regional quarterfinal matchup. The Pirates drop to 3-7 for the season. “We wanted this win real bad,” said Greene, whose last two teams lost by a combined four points to Crystal River. “The (overtime) loss last year really prepared us for the entire offseason.” Moore hooked up with three different receivers for early scores to help put Citrus ahead 21-0 two minutes into the second quarter. The ’Canes added a safety later in the second when Travis Blotz, amid a host of swarming Citrus defenders, batted a Tyler Pollard punt out of the back of the end zone. The ensuing free kick set up CHS at the Pirate 37-yard line, and senior Jesse Vineyard went on to cash in on the short drive with a 1-yard rushing score to make it 29-0 by the break. Crystal River took advantage of a Desmond Franklin fumble at the beginning of the second half. After the Pirates recovered the ball at the Citrus 27, junior Collin Ryan (7 for 13 passing, 75 yards) connected with sophomore Keshawn Hopkins for a 27-yard touchdown. Later in the third, Pirates sophomore Antonio Franklin answered another Moore passing touchdown — his second to former Pirate Gabe Wilcox — with an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, only to see it wiped out by a holding penalty. “Citrus is an experienced team,” said Crystal River offensive coordinator Seth Varnadore, whose older brother head coach Nathan Varnadore was battling an illness after the game. “We knew we’d have to play really well to play with them. We had our chances, and we didn’t execute — we’d line up wrong here, drop a pass there, make a bad throw, miss a tackle. We’re young and we’re still getting there.” ’Canes senior Tyric Washington added two rushing TDs in the final 17 minutes of play, and finished with a game-high 114 yards on 14 carries. Moore finished 7 for 11 with 171 yards and no interceptions. He ran five times for 57 yards. “This is a game we’ve preached about since the offseason,” said the senior quarterback, echoing his head coach. “It just feels huge to win this for the coaches and this football team.” Greene said he wanted to get his team back to its ground-and-pound attack in preparation for a playoff run. It delivered by grinding up 303 rushing yards on 45 carries. “That’s what we wanted to do tonight,” he said. “We kind of softened them up early, and I think our no-huddle helped us wear them down a little. Crystal River did a great job scheming for us, and once we got adjusted, we were able to run the ball like we wanted.” Wilcox, a junior, had an interception to go along with his two touchdown catches. “I was glad playing my friends again,” he said. “We were enemies on the field, but we’re friends again after the game. It felt great.” Junior Sam Franklin, another former Pirate, hauled in an 81-yard scoring reception for Citrus. “We knew they were respecting the fade,” Greene said on Franklin’s score, “so we called the hitch-and-go to suck them up.” Ty Reynolds led Crystal River with three receptions for 48 yards, and rushed for a team-high 12 yards on a pair of carries. Citrus senior kicker Joshua Marsden converted six extra-point attempts. Crystal River junior Austin Stephens and ’Canes senior Jaimee Juse, who had a 12-yard touchdown reception, each blocked an extra point attempt.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 11:55:10 +0000
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