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Manta Rays Sting Dragons In Double Overtime

Mark Pinson/Highlands Today

Lake Placid junior tailback Caleb Jones 20 makes a cut to score a touchdown in the first overtime of Friday night's game against Lemon Bay.

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By MARK PINSON

Highlands Today

Published: November 15, 2008

LAKE PLACID - For much of Friday night's football game, it looked like Lake Placid would rise up and pull off an upset of Lemon Bay to end a trying season on a high note.

Instead, Brandon Harkeli rushed for one touchdown and caught two scoring passes from quarterback Conlin Banaan to spark a furious fourth-quarter rally and Sean Galvin kicked a 27-yard field goal to lift the Manta Rays to a 34-31 double-overtime win over the Green Dragons at Roger Scarborough Memorial Field.

"It's a disappointing loss, but I'm proud of the kids because it's been a long season without a lot of wins and we came out and showed a lot of heart and character against a good Lemon Bay team," said first-year Lake Placid coach Jason Holden. "We played hard the entire game, but turnovers and a couple of bad bounces hurt us.

"We gave a great effort, we just came up a little short."

Class 2A Lake Placid, which finished the season 1-8, dominated the Class 3A Manta Rays, who ended at 4-6.

The Green Dragon defense, which forced four turnovers, blocked a field goal to set up their first score of the game.

Junior tailback Caleb Jones, who rushed 18 times for 128 yards, broke free for a 59-yard scoring run and quarterback Zach Campbell ran for the two-point conversion to give Lake Placid an 8-0 lead with 18:8 seconds remaining in the first period.

On the ensuing kick, Lemon Bay bobbled the ball and took over at its 5-yard line.

Banaan dropped back to pass, but was sacked by the aggressive Green Dragon defense in the end zone for a safety for a 10-0 lead.

The Manta Rays defense stiffened and forced a Lake Placid punt.

Lemon Bay took over at its 41, but Banaan's second-down pass was intercepted by Zach Campbell, who returned it 47 yards for a touchdown.

The extra point by Steven Guelff gave the Green Dragons a 17-0 halftime lead.

Neither team could muster much offense until Galvin booted a 39-yard field goal to cut the Manta Rays deficit to 17-3 with 4:57 remaining in the third period.

Lake Placid answered with a nine-play 55-yard drive capped by fullback Navarhi Holden's one yard run.

Holden finished with 85 yards on 13 carries.

"Our running game was solid and we used our speed to our advantage to make some plays," Holden said. "We just couldn't get anything going with our passing game."

Guelff's point after gave the Green Dragons a seemingly comfortable 24-3 lead with 37:9 seconds left in the third quarter.

Lemon Bay refused to quit and marched 81 yards in eight plays with Banaan finding Harkeli behind the Lake Placid secondary for a 50-yard scoring strike.

Galvin's extra point brought the Manta Rays within 24-10 with 8:34 remaining to play.

Lake Placid, behind solid running from Jones and Holden, picked up a pair of first downs to move the ball to midfield.

But Campbell's pass was picked off by Lemon Bay safety Jake Berwind, who weaved his way down the left sideline for a 64-yard touchdown.

Campbell finished the night 3 of 18 for 33 yards with four interceptions.

The point after made it 24-17 with less than six minutes remaining.

On the ensuing possession, disaster struck again when Holden was hit and fumbled the ball and the Manta Rays recovered on the Dragon 20.

Lemon Bay took three plays to score as Harkeli swept around left end for a 10-yard touchdown.

The extra point tied the game at 24 with 4:54 left to play.

It would take overtime to decide this game.

Lake Placid had the ball first and scored in just three plays as Jones ran off left tackle for the go-ahead touchdown from three yards out.

Guelff booted the extra point for a seven-point lead.

Lemon Bay answered as Banaan found Harkeli for a 12-yard touchdown pass on third-and-11.

Galvin calmly converted the point after to tie the game at 31.

In the second overtime, the Green Dragons faced a fourth-and-one and a fumbled exchange between Campbell and Jones resulted in a loss.

"I thought about the field goal, but I thought we could get one yard," said Holden. "I had confidence we could score, but we mishandled the exchange."

Lemon Bay wasted no time running a play as Galvin came in on first down and kicked the 27-yard game-winner through the uprights to lift the Manta Rays to an unlikely victory.

"We're looking forward to the offseason and getting ready for next year," Holden said. "We want to get more athletes out for the team, instill a strong work ethic and work hard to be a better team come next season."

Lemon Bay 34, Lake Placid 31 (2 OT)

Friday at Lake Placid

LemBay 0 0 3 21 7 3 - 34

LP 8 9 7 0 7 0 - 31

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

Lake Placid - Jones 59 run (Campbell 2 yd run) 18.8

Second Quarter

Lake Placid - Banaan sacked for safety (Guelff kick) 11:09

Lake Placid - Campbell 47 int return (Guelff kick) 7:27

Third Quarter

Lemon Bay - Galvin 39 field goal 4:57

Lake Placid - Holden 2 run (Guelff kick) 37.9

Fourth Quarter

Lemon Bay - Harkeli 50 pass from Banaan (Galvin kick) 8:34

Lemon Bay - Berwind 64 int return (Galvin kick) 5:59

Lemon Bay - Harkeli 10 run (Galvin kick) 4:54

Overtime

Lake Placid - Jones 4 run (Guelff kick)

Lemon Bay - Harkeli 12 pass from Banaan (Galvin kick)

Double Overtime

Lemon Bay - Galvin 27 field goal

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING Lake Placid; Jones 18-128, Holden 13-85, Campbell 6-12, Young 1-5, Lemon Bay; Schulte 18-43, Banaan 7-12, Emmanuel 4-20, Holt 8-33, Harkeli 3-13, Golonka 12-25.

PASSING Lake Placid; Campbell 3-18-33, Young 1-1-20, Lemon Bay; Banaan 4-11-97.

RECEIVING Lake Placid; J. Campbell 3-41, Gort 1-12, Lemon Bay; Harkeli 4-97.

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

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