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Highlands Today

Dragons Look For Elusive District Victory

Chris Hoffman, Highlands Today

Lake Placid's Zach Campbell 21 and Caleb Jones look to lead the Green Dragons to their first district victory in two seasons tonight against St. Pete Catholic.

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By MARK PINSON Highlands Today

Published: November 7, 2008

LAKE PLACID - The Lake Placid football team hasn't won a district game in two years.

Tonight's Class 2A-District 5 home game against St. Petersburg Catholic is the Green Dragons' last chance to change that fact this season.

"It would be great to get a district win," said first-year Lake Placid coach Jason Holden. "Especially for the seniors, because their last district win came against Fort Myers Bishop Verot two years ago.

"It's going to be a challenge for us, because St. Petersburg Catholic is a lot better than their record shows and we're going to have to execute and play well to win."

Lake Placid comes into tonight's contest at 1-6, 0-4, while St. Petersburg Catholic is 1-8, 1-3.

The Barons, who lead the overall series 3-0 including last year's 38-6 win, are coming off a 46-18 loss to a talented Mulberry team last week.

"St. Pete Catholic has a lot of team speed and some really good athletes," Holden said. "They played a lot of tough teams in the early part of the season, and they've lost some close games.

"They give you a lot of different looks, and we're going to have to be focused and play smart football to come away with a win."

The Barons use a variety of formations on defense.

"St. Pete Catholic will bring pressure from different places and we have to communicate and follow our blocking assignments," the Green Dragon coach said. "This is a game we can win, but we're going to have to cut down on our turnovers and execute."

Lake Placid, which lost to Bishop Verot 27-16 last week, is looking to snap a five-game losing streak.

"We had a chance to win the last two games, but we didn't make the plays at the end," said Holden. "The kids are playing hard and getting after it.

"We're right on the edge of getting over the hump, but we need someone to step up and make the plays that will change the outcome of the game."

The Barons utilize numerous formations in their explosive offense.

"St Pete Catholic uses a lot of formations on offense and is different from anything we've seen this season," Holden said. "They run out the wing and they throw the ball effectively from several formations.

"Our base defense matches up pretty well with them and to contain this kind of offense we have to follow our keys, play assignment football and tackle well."

With only two games remaining in the season, Holden, who coached football at Lake Placid Middle School for a number of years, has seen a lot of positives in his first year on the LP sideline.

"The kids have had a great attitude and have played hard every game," the Green Dragon coach said. "We wanted to keep things positive and there is excitement at school and in the community about our football team.

"The students, the faculty and the fans have been so supportive and we're looking forward to getting more athletes out for the team and working hard in the offseason to becoming a better football team."

Longhorns vs. Green Dragons

at Roger Scarborough

Memorial Field

TONIGHT at 7:30

COST $5

Mark Pinson can be reached at 863-386-5837 or mpinson@highlandstoday.com

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