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Highlands Today

Dragons Host Mulberry In District Football Game

Jesse Osbourne/Highlands Today

Lake Placid quarterback Conlin Veley (12) tries to evade Braden River’s Thomas Ely during last Friday’s loss.

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By Mark  Pinson | Highlands Today

Published: October 5, 2007

LAKE PLACID — Familiarity breeds respect.
First-year Lake Placid football coach Tim Grant knows the Green Dragons have their hands full in tonight's Class 2A-District 5 game.

Mulberry, which is 2-2 overall and 0-1 in district play, is the opponent, and Grant knows all to well the speed and athleticism the Panthers possess since he coached at the Polk County school in 2005.
"I coached linebackers and receivers at Mulberry for a year and I know a lot of the kids on the team," Grant said. "Mulberry has good speed on both sides of the ball and we're going to have to execute and follow our assignments if we want to be successful."

Mulberry, which is coming off a tough 25-22 District 5 loss to Fort Myers Bishop Verot last week, leads the series 19-3, including a 48-26 win last year.
The Panthers like to run the ball and utilize a Wing-T formation on offense.
"Mulberry has a good rushing attack with three strong runners," Grant said. "We have to do a good job of wrapping up and tackling."

Quarterback Steven Willis is an excellent ball handler and running backs Jerrell Carr and Deion Smith provide a potent combination out of the backfield.
"We have to fight off the blockers, read our keys and follow our assignments to slow down their offense because Mulberry uses a lot of miss-direction plays and counters," Grant said. "We practiced all week without a ball on defense because each player must read his keys and be in the right place, or we'll give up big plays like we did last week against Braden River.

"Mulberry is a solid team with good athletes and we're going to have to play well to come away with a win."
Lake Placid, which lost to Braden River 38-14 last week, comes in to tonight's game 2-3 overall and 0-1 in district action, making this a vital game.

The Panthers use a 3-3 stack formation on defense and Grant is hoping to spread them out with Lake Placid's potent passing attack led by senior quarterback Conlin Veley.
Veley has completed 24-of-60 passes for 362 yards and five touchdowns, with wide receiver Richard Brooks, who has a team-high 147 receiving yards and two touchdowns, his main target.

"We want to spread the field and try and get our playmakers into open space," the Green Dragon coach said.
Lake Placid also has the ability to run the ball effectively with tailback Chevontray Wilson.
The junior speedster is the third-leading rusher in the Heartland with 326 yards and one touchdown.
"We want to be balanced on offense and we have to make some big plays," Grant said. "Everybody has to do their job and not worry about anything else.

"This is an important district game and we're going to have to execute our assignments, tackle well and stay focused if we want to win."

Lake Placid High School Football Photo Gallery

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