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Mulberry Manhandles Lake Placid

Mark Pinson/Highlands Today

Mulberrys Tony Brown is knocked out of bounds by Lake Placids Navarhi Holden during the third quarter of Friday nights game in the Phosphate Bowl.

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MARK PINSON Highlands Today

Published: October 11, 2008

Updated: 10/11/2008 04:12 pm

MULBERRY - Junior tailback Jermaine West rushed for two touchdowns and returned an interception for a score on Friday night to lead Mulberry past Lake Placid 49-7 in a Class 2A-District 5 game at the Phosphate Bowl.
Junior quarterback Tony Brown rushed for 47 yards and completed 4 of 8 passes for 151 yards with one touchdown and one interception as the Panthers improved to 4-2, 2-0, while the loss dropped the Green Dragons to 1-4, 0-2.

"Mulberry is a good team that has a lot of speed and they came out ready to play," said first-year Lake Placid coach Jason Holden. "We didn't tackle well and some of our guys weren't sure of their assignments, and that's completely on us as coaches.

"I'm proud of our guys because they didn't quit even though we were behind and we're going to get back on the practice field and work to get better."

Mulberry took the opening kick and scored in three plays as West shook loose for a 69-yard scoring run.

The extra point by Kody Glass put the Panthers up 7-0 a minute into the game.
Lake Placid recovered a Mulberry onside kick for excellent field position, but quarterback Zach Campbell's second-down screen pass was tipped and intercepted by West, who returned it 40 yards for a touchdown for a 13-0 lead with 9:38 remaining in the first quarter.
Lake Placid took the ensuing kickoff out to its 49, but the Green Dragon offense - which rushed for 116 yards - was forced to punt.
Kevin Fox raced in to block the punt and John Minnifield scooped up the loose ball and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown to put the Panthers up 20-0 midway through the period.

"This was a physical game, and we came in missing three starters," Holden said. "We knew coming in it wasn't going to be easy and we just have to stay positive and not get down on each other.

"Turning this program around isn't a one or two week thing, it's a year-round process and we're committed to it."

The swarming Mulberry defense forced a Lake Placid three-and-out and the Panthers scored in five plays as senior running back Jerrell Carr scored on a 54-yard run.

The point after made it 26-0 with 4:10 remaining in the first quarter.

Mulberry got on the scoreboard again on a 74-yard touchdown pass from Brown to Jamar Reaves for a 32-0 lead midway through the second period.

Lake Placid, which was led by senior tailback Chevontray Wilson's 14 rushes for 66 yards, put together its best drive of the half, but failed on a fake punt on fourth down from midfield.

Mulberry took advantage of good field position by scoring in four plays on a 1-yard run by West for a 39-0 lead.
Lake Placid quarterback Zach Campbell, who was 1 of 7 passing for 16 yards, was intercepted just before the half by West, and the Panthers capitalized as Glass booted a 22-yard field goal for a 42-0 lead at intermission.

After forcing a Mulberry punt, Lake Placid marched 53 yards in five plays with Navarhi Holden bulling his way into the end zone from 11 yards out.

Holden finished with 37 yards on seven carries.

"That's the first time I've ever been a running back," the Green Dragon linebacker said. "I wanted to score because I was ticked off that we were so far behind.

"It was important to get some points on the board for our pride, because no matter what the score is, you've got to keep playing hard."

Junior place kicker Steven Guelff, who suffered a bruised knee earlier in the game, shook off the pain and booted the extra point to pull the Green Dragons within 35 with 9:18 remaining in the game.

"That was a huge touchdown for us," Coach Holden said. "You never want to get shut out and being able to move the ball down the field and score against Mulberry's first-string defense was good for our confidence.

"Navarhi ran strong tonight, and I think we learned some things about some of our other players that were in different positions that will help us down the road."

Mulberry's Lorenzo Rowe capped the scoring for the night with a 24-yard burst up the middle with less than two minutes remaining.
Lake Placid has a bye next week before hosting district rival Lennard High on Oct. 24.

"The bye week couldn't have come at a better time," Coach Holden said. "We've got a lot of guys banged up and this will give us a chance to get them healthy.

"Our main goal this year is to keep the guys feeling good about themselves, and make them understand that being good enough to compete for a district championship is going to take time, a lot of hard work and sacrifice."

Mulberry 49, Lake Placid 7

Friday at Mulberry

Lake Placid 0 0 0 7 - 7

Mulberry 26 14 0 7 - 49

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

Mul - West 69 yd run (Glass kick) 10:37

Mul - West 40 yd interception return (kick failed) 9:38

Mul - Minnifield 44 yd return of blocked punt (Glass kick) 7:52

Mul - Carr 54 yd run (2 pt run failed) 4:10

Second Quarter

Mul - Reaves 74 yd pass from Brown (kick failed) 9:31

Mul - West 1 yd run (Glass kick) 39-0

Mul - Glass 22 yd field goal 0:00

Fourth Quarter

LP - Holden 11 yd run (Guelff kick) 9:18

Mul - Thomas 24 yd run (Glass kick) 1:51

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING Lake Placid; Campbell 7-6, Holden 7-37, Wilson 14-66, Gonzalez 2-14, Young 1-6. Mulberry; Brown 6-47, Carr 3-60, West 6 -82 Thomas 7-44, Rowe 4-43.

PASSING Lake Placid; Campbell 1-7-16, Wilson 0-2. Mulberry; Brown 4-8-151-1

RECEIVING Lake Placid; Wilson 1-16. Mulberry; Reaves 2-86, Chancey 1-44, Carr 1-21.

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

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