Local Sports
Green Dragons build on success
Mark Pinson | Highlands Today
Published: September 7, 2012
After rolling past Celebration by a score of 26-12 in last week's season opener, Lake Placid has a much tougher and talented opponent in tonight's home game against Moore Haven.Published: September 7, 2012
The Terriers lost to First Baptist Academy of Naples by a score of 14-0 last week, but showed plenty of speed and athleticism in defeat.
"Moore Haven has a lot of speed and are very physical," said Lake Placid fifth-year coach Jason Holden. "They have a lot of the same players as last year and we're going to have our hands full trying to contain them."
Lake Placid lost to Moore Haven on the road by a score of 21-13 last year, with several Green Dragon turnovers playing a big part in the loss.
The Terriers use multiple sets on offense, including the spread in an effort to get their speedy players the ball in space.
"They like to run the speed sweep and option and they have the ability to throw the ball," said Holden. "They have a big offensive line and we're going to have to read our keys and tackle well if we want to slow down a good offense."
Lake Placid counters with its hybrid Wing-T offense that produced more than 250 yards on the ground in last week's win over Celebration.
The Green Dragons want to keep the ball on the ground and run the clock in their ball control offense.
"We ran the ball pretty well last week despite the fact that we had a lot of mental and physical mistakes," Holden said. "We worked real hard in practice this week on our timing and our fakes in the backfield.
"Our offense is built on misdirection plays and making the defense read their keys before they attack the ball carrier."
Moore Haven uses a 4-3 defense with a good-sized defensive line and speed in the secondary.
"We're small up front, but with our blocking scheme we just need to open a seam for our running backs to hit quickly," the Green Dragon coach said. "If teams want to bring eight or nine guys up close to the line of scrimmage that actually plays into our hands because one missed tackle and we're off to the races for a big play.
"We had some big runs against them last year and it would be nice to do that again."
Lake Placid, which lost three fumbles, had a pass intercepted in the end zone and a punt blocked in the win over Celebration, has worked hard in practice hanging on to the ball.
"We're not going to able to overcome five turnovers and win very often," Holden said. "We preached to the guys about ball security and running hard but maintaining control of the ball."
Tonight's non-district game against Moore Haven is a great opportunity for Lake Placid to build momentum heading into next Friday's road game at an always tough Sarasota Cardinal Mooney.
"It would really give us some confidence if we could beat Moore Haven and go 2-0," Holden said. "It would really be good for our morale and we just have come out and play smart, physical football."
The Green Dragons enjoyed playing in front of a large crowd last week and Holden is hopeful of good attendance for tonight's 7 p.m. kickoff.
"Playing if front of a big crowd gets our kids fired up," Holden said. "After a win last week you'd think we'd get a lot of people out to support us against Moore Haven.
"We're looking forward to playing and we hope to give the fans a good game."
mpinson@highlandstoday.com (863) 386-5837