Lecanto displays new look offense, gets by Nature Coast

The Panthers won in the debut of new head coach Jacob Coulson

LECANTO, FLORIDA- New beginnings have arrived for Lecanto head coach Jacob Coulson. 

Coaching last season at Bloomingdale High School, Coulson after the 2022 campaign needed a change of scenery. 

Enter heading about 90 minutes north of Gibsonton to the unincorporated town of Lecanto in Citrus County. From metro to suburban and Friday night was the start of a little country loving for high school football. 

Coulson’s bunch in his debut played masterfully on offense as Lecanto defeated Nature Coast 46-30 at Lecanto High School. Panthers’ quarterback JT Tipton helped lead the way by throwing four touchdowns on the evening. 

"The country," Coulson said about his new surroundings. "There's kids here, man. I would say tell all the recruiters that stay in the Tampa, Hillsborough, Pasco County that they need to get up to Citrus County. We've got some dogs."

It wouldn't be too long into the game that Lecanto's athletes would display its offensive talent. Tipton hit running back Caden Moore on a short screen pass that the tailback took 56 yards to the house, giving Lecanto a 7-0 lead. On Lecanto's very next possession, Tipton this time showed off his wheels, bursting off 27 yards for another score. 

Trailing 14-0, the Sharks started to battle back and cut the lead to 14-8 on a Christian Cromer 2-yard touchdown run. Cromer, who has an offer from Navy, didn't churn out the rushing yards but was effective in short yardage situations. The soon-to-be senior rushed for 36 yards on nine attempts and scored two touchdowns. 

Nature Coast quarterback Jackson Hoyt was just coming off the Sharks' high school baseball season and played well despite missing some practice time. A University of Florida commitment for baseball, Hoyt threw for 190 yards, two scores and rushed for another 71 on the ground. The game was also the debut for new Nature Coast head coach Rob Kazmier, who is also an alum of the school. 

Though Nature Coast kept working themselves back into the game, Lecanto's offense kept finding ways to score. The Panthers answered with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Tipton to Tez Joesph, giving Lecanto a commanding 20-8 lead. Lecanto went into halftime with a 27-14 lead and though rain started to come down throughout the second half, that didn't slow down Coulson's group whatsoever. 

Tipton, who was the team's starting quarterback as a freshman on varsity in 2022, was 23-of-34 passing for 234 yards along with the four passing touchdowns and one rushing. Caden Moore figures to be the team's bell cow in the backfield as he rushed for 102 yards on 19 attempts and fellow teammate Braylen Moore caught 10 passes for 90 yards and a score. 

With such a young core of guys back in the fold for Lecanto, the Panthers look to be a team that contends for the Class 3S, District 6 championship in the fall.

"The guys kids just bought into our vision and the system," Coulson said. "They play pretty hard. The offensive line does a great job blocking. The thing I really love about this team is we're really young. Quarterback is a freshman. Two or three of our receivers are freshman. We're very young, but the sky is the limit here."

Andy Villamarzo scan be reached at andyvillamarzo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @Andy_Villamarzo.