On Wednesday, May 20, the Nature Coast Sharks traveled to St. Petersburg to participate in a spring football jamboree against two Pinellas County schools, East Lake and St. Petersburg High. The Sharks secured two impressive victories, defeating East Lake 14-3 and host St. Petersburg High 14-0.
The teams played a half apiece against the other two squads. St. Petersburg defeated East Lake 14-9 in the opening half of the night. Nature Coast head coach Chris Hawley expressed satisfaction with his team’s performance, saying, “Two really good Pinellas teams and we did a good job playing hard and physical.” Hawley, who grew up in Pinellas and spent four seasons as an assistant coach at East Lake, added, “I wanted to see what we could do against really good competition, particularly at the quarterback position and offensive line.”
The Sharks’ first game against East Lake started strong, with Kayden Berton intercepting a pass on the second play. A 36-yard pass from new quarterback Christian Garrett to Jackson DePetrillo placed the ball at the East Lake 1-yard line, leading to a touchdown by R.J. Jones. The Sharks’ defense and execution were dominant, with Hawley noting, “We were physical, we were tough, but we did not execute anywhere near where we could.”
The Nature Coast Sharks, coming off a 10-3 season and an Elite Eight appearance in Class 3A, demonstrated their strength against East Lake, which was 8-3 and reached the Sweet 16 in Class 6A in 2025.
Originally reported by Hernando Sun
Sources: Hernando Sun
