Lecanto, Fla. — The Villages High School football team was kept off the scoreboard in a disappointing 38-0 road loss to Lecanto on Thursday night in Citrus County.

The Buffalo (1-1 overall) were held to just 144 yards of offense, committed two turnovers and twice more turned possession over on downs, while Lecanto (2-0) gashed VHS early and often en route to a runaway Week 2 victory.

Playing on a Thursday for the first time since 2021, The Villages looked out of sorts from the opening kick and struggled on both sides of the ball, ultimately allowing a touchdown in each quarter in the defeat.

"We certainly can't make any excuses, but with the short week (of preparation) and we didn't really have the best week of practice for ourselves, it all obviously reflected on us tonight," said Buffalo head coach Richard Pettus. "I did a poor job of getting us ready to play tonight, and we lost to a very good football team. Now, we've got to figure out how to bounce back."

Lecanto led 10-0 after one period of play, as the Panthers racked up 180 yards of offense and gained 10 first downs in the first quarter alone. A 25-yard field goal by Alex Paul on the opening drive gave Lecanto a 3-0 lead, before a nine-play series gobbled up 80 yards and closed with a 13-yard quarterback keeper by JT Tipton for a 10-0 advantage.

The Buffalo defense had no answer for a balanced Panthers offense early in the second quarter, as well, when Lecanto marched off on another nine-play scoring drive — this time traveling 82 yards — with Caden Moore making it 17-0 at the half on an 8-yard touchdown run. VHS surrendered 206 yards of offense in the first half — 107 passing and 99 rushing — while tallying just 89 yards of its own over the first two quarters.

The end of the first half also featured a quarterback change for VHS, as starter Patrick Harding was pulled in favor of Ja'dence Kennedy after two punts and a field goal miss on the first three Buffalo possessions of the night. Kennedy led VHS down the field on a nine-play, five-minute march, but ultimately the drive stalled on fourth down inside the Lecanto 10-yard line.

"We needed something to try and ignite the offense there," Pettus explained of the quarterback switch. "We had a few (positive) plays and we just came up a few yards short of punching it in there before halftime to make it 17-7 at the half. But we're going to rely heavily on both Pat (Harding) and J (Kennedy) to lead us on offense the rest of the season." 

After VHS was forced to punt to open the second half, a 6-yard touchdown pass from Tipton to Garrett Pitzer capped a 10-play drive and gave Lecanto a 24-0 lead. 

The Panthers would add on two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter for the night's final margin, as Nathan Vonderhaar returned an interception 65 yards for a score and Moore added a 12-yard touchdown run.

The Villages finished with just 38 yards rushing on 25 attempts, while Harding and Kennedy combined to complete 12-of-25 passes for 106 yards and two interceptions. The Buffalo were also penalized 10 times for 85 yards in the loss. 

"The hope is you get a game like this out of the way now, so it doesn't affect us later on during the season," Pettus said. "We've got a wake-up call, basically. So now, we've got learn and we've got to learm how to respond after getting beat by a good football team like (Lecanto)."


LECANTO 38, THE VILLAGES 0
VILLAGES    0    0    0    0 – 0
LECANTO    10    7    7    14 – 38
First Quarter
L: Alex Paul 25 kick, 10:05
L: JT Tipton 10 run (Paul kick), 5:26
Second Quarter
L: Caden Moore 8 run (Paul kick), 11:22
Third Quarter
L: Garrett Pitzer 6 pass from Tipton (Paul kick), 3:54
Fourth Quarter
L: Nathan Vonderhaar 62 interception return (Paul kick), 10:13
L: Moore 12 run (Paul kick), 4:40





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