It’s safe to say things haven’t gone quite as expected for first-year Cambridge Christian coach John Kelly.

“It’s definitely been an interesting first half of the year,” said Kelly, whose Lancers (0-5) are still seeking their first win. “Obviously, our record speaks for itself, but we’ve played some pretty doggone good teams.”

To the Lancers’ credit, their opponents in the first half have done well this season. Three of the teams – Jacksonville University Christian, Lakeland Santa Fe Catholic and Bradenton Prep – are 4-1, and Cambridge Christian’s first five opponents own a combined 16-9 mark. Another thing that hurt was the Lancers losing starting quarterback Etienne Turner (torn labrum) for the season.

But, when one player goes down, that means an opportunity arises for another. And, freshman Hayden Kelley is looking to take advantage of his chance.

Kelley has been given the reins of the offense as the Lancers’ new quarterback. He made his first start of the season in last week’s loss to Keswick Christian, and, as any young signal caller would, had his ups and downs. Kelley finished 8 of 15 for 126 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.

“He did basically what he was expected to do,” Kelly said. “He made some mistakes, but he had a lot of positives that he can build on. There were some good, positive things to build on for sure.”

The Lancers are hoping to turn things around beginning this week at Sarasota Out-of-Door (2-2), a game that will be played Saturday.

“We definitely are comparable,” Kelly said of this week’s opponent. “Obviously, we’ve made a ton of mistakes this year. We can definitely match up with these guys, but we have to play our best. We don’t have the luxury of being able to have a bad game and beating anyone. We just have to play our best.”