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Barons Dominate Green Dragons

Mark Pinson/Highlands Today

St. Petersburg Catholic's Jon Halapio barrels over a Lake Placid defender for a touchdown in the second quarter of Friday night's Class 2A-District 5 game at Roger Scarborough Memorial Field.

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By MARK PINSON Highlands Today

Published: November 8, 2008

Updated:

LAKE PLACID - A chance to earn its first district win of the season wasn't enough motivation for the Lake Placid football team on Friday night.

St. Petersburg Catholic junior tailback Keelyan Bryant rushed 21 times for 134 yards and one touchdown to lead the Barons to a 39-14 victory over a listless Green Dragon squad at Roger Scarborough Memorial Field.

"St. Petersburg was pretty fast, but we made a lot of mental mistakes that helped them out," said LP junior Navarhi Holden. "We came out flat, fell behind and you can't do that against good teams."

The Class 2A-District 5 win improved the Barons to 2-8, 2-3, while the loss dropped the Green Dragons to 1-7, 0-5.

"We were flat in practice during the week and we played that way tonight," said first-year Lake Placid coach Jason Holden. "We didn't play with any intensity or urgency and we aren't good enough to play without emotion.

"We have to come ready to play every week and we didn't do that tonight."

St. Pete Catholic scored on its first possession on a nine-play, 60-yard drive capped off by wide receiver Julian Smith's 32-yard touchdown run on a reverse.

The point after made it 7-0 just five minutes into the first quarter.

After forcing a Lake Placid punt, the Barons marched 92 yards in seven plays with Bryant scoring on a 27-yard run up the middle of the Green Dragon defense.

The extra point was wide left to make it 13-0 with 1:51 remaining in the opening period.

"Our defense didn't play bad in the first half," Holden said. "But we had too many three and outs on offense and that left our defense on the field for too long against an explosive offense."

Lake Placid picked up a couple of first downs, but the St. Pete defense forced a punt and took possession at its own 36.

Five plays later, Jon Halapio crashed in from six yards out to give the Barons a 19-0 halftime lead.

"We've been slow to get started on offense most of the season and that happened again tonight," Holden said. "We've been working on it in practice but we didn't get it fixed"

The Green Dragon defense stiffened in the third quarter and forced a pair of St. Pete punts.

Lake Placid took over at the Barons 41-yard line, and with the help of two 15-yard penalties against the Barons, moved the ball inside the 10.

Lake Placid quarterback Zach Campbell, who completed 6 of 18 passes for 58 yards, rolled out and hit Jacob Campbell for an 8-yard touchdown pass.

The extra point by Steven Guelff pulled the Green Dragons within 19-7 with 7:10 remaining in the period.

St. Pete Catholic answered with a 65-yard drive with quarterback Chris McCay, who was 9 of 14 passing for 132 yards, hooking up with Nick Filtz on a 12-yard scoring strike.

Lake Placid went three-and-out and the Barons drove 43 yards for a score to go up 32-7.

Lake Placid put together a drive of 40 yards with Caleb Jones, who carried the ball 11 times for 21 yards, scoring on a 5-yard sweep around left end.

Guelff's extra point trimmed the Green Dragons deficit to 32-14 with 6:15 remaining in the third period.

After taking over on downs in Lake Placid territory, St. Pete Catholic scored late in the game for the final points.

The Green Dragons host Lemon Bay next Friday night in their last game of the season.

"We need to send our seniors out with a win," Holden said. "They've been here for four years and been through a lot of adversity and turmoil and it would be great for them to leave on a high note."

St. Petersburg Catholic 39, Lake Placid 14

St. Pete 13 6 0 20 - 39

Lake Placid 0 0 7 7 - 14

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

St. Pete - Smith 32 run (Gonzalez kick) 6:56

St. Pete - Bryant 27 run (kick failed) 1:51

Second Quarter

St. Pete - Halapio 6 run (kick failed) 11:04

Third Quarter

Lake Placid - J. Campbell 8 pass from Z. Campbell (Guelff kick) 7:10)

Fourth Quarter

St. Pete - Filtz 12 pass from McCay 2 pt pass failed (11:53)

St. Pete - Waddell 3 run (Gonzalez kick) 8:25

Lake Placid - Jones 5 run (guelff kick) 6:15

St. Pete - Harris 1 run (Gonzalez kick) 1:30

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING Lake Placid; Holden 7-23, Jones 11-21, Campbell 4-11, Young 2-5Gort 1-10, St. Pete; Bryant 21-134, Snead 13-27, Waddell 4-17, Halapio 1-6, Smith 1-32.

PASSING Lake Placid; Campbell 6-18-58, Veley 3-5-47, St. Pete; McCay 9-14-132.

RECEIVING Lake Placid; Young 3-56, Holden 1-2, Jones 1-7, J. Campbell 4-37, St. Pete; Filtz 2-18, Waddell 3-12, Bryant 1-19, Smith 1 -39, Snead 2-44.

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

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