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Bishop Verot's Special Teams Shake Up Lake Placid

Chris Hoffman/Highlands Today

Bishop Verot's Chris James leaps to make the catch with Lake Placid's Caleb Jones ready to make the stop during Friday's game.

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By CHRIS HOFFMAN

Highlands Today

Published: November 1, 2008

Updated: 11/01/2008 03:33 pm

FORT MYERS - Jesse Kane turned into Lake Placid's worst nightmare on Halloween.

The senior return specialist ran untouched into the end zone three times (twice on kickoff returns and once on a punt return) against the Green Dragons - his first touchdowns of the season - to lead Bishop Verot to a 27-16 victory over Lake Placid in the Class 2A-District 5 showdown at Viking Field on Friday.

"I owe it all to my special teams," Kane said. "We knew going in that we were looking for big plays out of our special teams to give us good field position, but this was just an added bonus.

"I really was surprised on the opening kickoff that I had these huge holes to run through and I just kept running until I found the end zone."
Lake Placid head coach Jason Holden looked almost stunned after the game as he comprehended what Kane had done to his special teams.

"Kane had a lot more speed that we thought and he ran by us like we were standing still," Coach Holden said. "We really underestimated his speed and I should've made it clear to our kicking team to kick it away from him after he ran back the opening kickoff.

"That one's on me."

The Green Dragon defense held its own against the Vikings, allowing just 141 yards of total offense and just one offensive touchdown the entire game, but it was Kane who put the nail in Lake Placid's coffin.
Lake Placid running back Navarhi Holden rushed for 89 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to lead the Green Dragons.

"I ran pretty good tonight, but it was Travalier Sholtz who opened the holes for me to run through," Navarhi Holden said. "He opened up some huge holes for me and I took advantage of them.

"But Kane negated every positive thing we did on offense by breezing by our special teams. To their credit though, there are a lot of freshman on special teams who were getting their first chance at playing varsity."

Kane made his presence felt on the opening kickoff, which he broke to the right side and ran 85 yards for the touchdown just 13 seconds into the game.

A missed extra point left the score 6-0.

After a pair of three-and-outs by Lake Placid, Bishop Verot quarterback Jacob Kistel connected on a 20-yard touchdown strike to running back Schon Thomas, but Kistel was sacked on the two-point conversion attempt and the Vikings held a 12-0 lead with four minutes left in the first.

It was a see-saw affair through the rest of the first half, as both teams traded interceptions and field position.

After taking over at midfield with nine minutes left in the half, Lake Placid's Zach Campbell hit receiver Avery Young for a 20-yard completion that put the Green Dragons in good field position, but the drive stalled and kicker Stephen Guelff missed a 40-yard field goal attempt to keep the visiting team scoreless.
Lake Placid seemingly wrestled the momentum from the home team on the last play of the half, when Tony Gonzalez snagged his second interception of the game off Kistel and nearly made it into the end zone, but the Viking defense pushed him out of bounds eight yards shy with no time left on the clock.

Even with the score not in their favor, Holden was upbeat when talking to his team at halftime.

"We really had some positive things going for us," Holden said. "Our passing game really kept things moving for us. Bishop Verot scouted us really well and shut down our running game in that first half."

The Green Dragons managed just 13 yards rushing in the first half, as the two teams were nearly equal (92-91) in total yards off offense, with LP on top by a single yard.

With the momentum on their side and the ball to start the second half, Lake Placid got a trick and not a treat, as Bishop Verot tightened their defense and forced a three-and-out.

But Bishop Verot's Kyle Knight missed a 23-yard field goal attempt to give new life to Lake Placid.

The Green Dragons put together their most impressive drive of the season - a 20-play, 55-yard drive that lasted 7:47 - that saw Lake Placid use a balanced attack to march down the field.

But an offensive pass interference penalty on a 2nd-and-10 play from the Vikings 17-yard line pushed the Green Dragons back 15 yards, forcing LP to settle for a 35-yard field goal from Guelff that left the score 12-3.

"We really needed a touchdown in that situation," Coach Holden said. "That penalty killed the drive, but our guys loosened up after getting on the board and I thought if our defense could hold them, then we'd have a chance at the end."

Kane made Lake Placid pay for kicking the ball in his direction on the very next play, running the kickoff 87 yards to house. In an instant, Bishop Verot had a comfortable 20-3 lead.

With 10:30 left in the game, Lake Placid needed a huge play on special teams to get back in the game and Young complied, returning the ensuing kickoff 52 yards to the Vikings 18-yard line and bringing the Green Dragon fans to their feet.

Two plays later, Young ran a reverse for 13 yards and set up Holden's first touchdown - a two yard bull rush - but a missed extra point held Lake Placid to an 11-point disadvantage. Kane put the game away with less than five minutes left when he ran back a Lake Placid punt untouched 42 yards to give Bishop Verot a 27-9 lead.

Holden scored on a nine-yard touchdown run with 44 seconds left to play and Bishop Verot recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock to drop Lake Placid to its fifth straight loss.
Lake Placid won the statistical battle, as they racked up 281 yards of total offense, while holding Bishop Verot to 141, but Kane had 214 yards on special teams that was the game's deciding factor.

The loss drops Lake Placid to 1-6 overall and 0-4 in the district, while Bishop Verot improves to 6-2 and 2-2 in the district.

"I'm really proud on how we battled back," Coach Holden said. "We were able to establish our running game in the second half and I thought we did a great job on defense. Kane just made big plays tonight and that was the difference for us."

The Green Dragons are back at home to face district foe St. Pete Catholic next week, while Bishop Verot goes on the road to take on Tampa Catholic.
Bishop Verot 27, Lake Placid 16

Friday at Fort Meyers
Lake Placid 0 0 0 16 - 16
Bishop Verot 12 0 0 15 - 27

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

BV - Kane 85 kickoff return, (kick failed), 11:47

BV - Jacob 20 pass to Thomas, (run failed), 4:07

Fourth Quarter

LP - Guelff 35 kick, 10:55

BV - Kane 87 kickoff return, (Schon Thomas run), 10:30

LP - Holden 2 run, (kick failed), 8:11

BV - Kane 42 punt return, (Knight kick), 4:45

LP - Holden 9 run, (Guelff kick), :44

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING Lake Placid; Holden 10-89-2, Jones 17-46, Campbell 9-minus-10, Sholtz 1-8, Young 2-22, Gonzalez 1-0, Lara 2-6. Bishop Verot; Thomas 15-39, Kistel 5-minus-6. Doragh 1-15, Farah 4-6, James 1-minus-13, Brewer 1-minus-5.

PASSING Lake Placid; Campbell 10-25-120-0-1, Dillion 0-1. Bishop Verot; Kistel 11-18-105-1-2.

RECEIVING Lake Placid; Young 4-69, Jones 2-0, Sholtz 1-4, Campbell 1-21, Lara 1-7, Holden 1-19. Bishop Verot; Doragh 1-minus-2, James 5-39, Alvarez 1-11, Campbell 1-19, Thomas 2-28-1, Diggs 1-10.

Chris Hoffman can be reached at 863-386-5827 or choffman@highlandstoday.com

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