Inverness, Fla. — It wasn't pretty ... it didn't have to be.

The Villages High School football team needed its first win — and got it — Friday night in Inverness, as the Buffalo secured a 22-12 road victory over the Citrus Hurricanes.

With its offense bit by the turnover bug, VHS (1-2 overall) relied on its defense and the unit came through, tallying seven sacks and an interception to go along with four turnovers on downs — including three separate fourth-down stops in the fourth quarter — to allow only six total points in a relief-filled victory.

"It feels so good to win and I hope I did a good job relaying that to our kids, because I know we're better than we're playing right now," said VHS head coach Richard Pettus. "It wasn't pretty but we'll take it, because we earned it. Our defense kept us in the game, for sure, but I'm just so proud and happy for all our players and coaches, too."

The Buffalo offense, which had found the end zone just once over the first eight quarters of the season, scored three touchdowns on Friday night — but not without strife. VHS quarterback Patrick Harding tossed four interceptions — one returned for a touchdown — and the Buffalo also lost a fourth-quarter fumble, which gave a rebuilding Citrus team plenty of hope.

But the Buffalo defense came through late, turning the Hurricanes away twice on downs in the final five-plus minutes to secure victory No. 1.

"We owed something to the defense tonight because they played lights out, and I feel like we didn't deliver for them," said Pettus, who also serves as the team's offensive coordinator. "Maybe we're trying to do too much on offense sometimes — and that's on me — I'm putting Patrick (Harding) in some bad spots out there. There's no question we've got to be better with the football."

Harding's first interception ended a promising opening drive deep inside Citrus territory, before the VHS defense forced a punt almost immediately to get the ball right back. It took less than a half-dozen plays for the Buffalo offense to appreciate that gesture, as Maleek Williams scored on the ground from 11 yards out to take a 7-0 lead with five minutes left in the first quarter.

After Ryan Wilkins plucked away an interception for the Buffalo defense, Khris Quiles de Jesus hauled in his first career touchdown reception over the middle on a 10-yard dart from Harding to give VHS a 14-0 advantage at the half.

The Buffalo defense made Citrus quarterback Tyler Jones run for his proverbial life throughout the first two quarters, recording six first-half sacks — four by Jonathan Harding — to keep the Hurricanes off the scoreboard at halftime.

Citrus finally got its home crowd on its feet midway through the third quarter, as the Hurricanes turned the younger Harding's third interception of the night into a 3-yard quarterback keeper by Jones to cut the deficit to 14-6 with 7:09 left in the period.

VHS went back up two scores early in the fourth, when Williams bounced off two Citrus defenders inside the 10-yard line for his second rushing touchdown, giving the Buffalo a 22-6 lead with 11:11 remaining.

Citrus pulled within 22-12 with 9:12 to play, after Harding had a miscommunication with a receiver in the flat on a screen pass. That led to an errant throw finding Hurricanes defensive end Caleb Hauter, with the lineman dropping back in coverage to snag the interception and return it 48 yards for the score.

That would be as close as the Hurricanes would get, however, as the VHS defense stepped up late by stonewalling Citrus on fourth down twice in the waning moments, helping the Buffalo avoid falling to 0-3 for the first time since 2012.

"It feels good to finally get a win, but we know we can play a whole lot better," Williams said. "We'll celebrate this one a little bit tonight, but we'll be back up tomorrow morning ready to watch the film and get ready for our next opponent."

That next foe will be Leesburg (3-1), who fell 42-29 on Friday night at Vanguard (Ocala), with the Buffalo and Yellow Jackets set to kick off at 7 p.m. next Friday in Leesburg.

"We know we're really going to need all three phases involved and playing well," Pettus said of the upcoming matchup. "We also know we can't turn the ball over as much as we did tonight, but we'll get back to work this week and get ready for another really tough opponent."


Cody Hills can be reached for questions or comment at cody.hills@tvcs.org or by calling (352) 259-6890.