Local Sports

Green Dragons prep for Tigers

Photos

Mark Pinson | Highlands Today
Published: September 21, 2012

A bruised and banged up Lake Placid football team opens Class 4A-District 6 play on the road tonight against a fast and physical Fort Myers Dunbar squad.

The Green Dragons, who come into the game with a 1-2 record, knocked off Celebration in their season opener, but have been plagued by turnovers and mistakes in two consecutive losses to Moore Haven and Sarasota Cardinal Mooney.

"We're pretty banged up right now," said Lake Placid coach Jason Holden. "We've played a couple of physical games in back-to-back weeks and we're missing a couple of starters on our offensive and defensive lines.

"We've had to move guys around on the line and it's really hurt our consistency and execution."

Facing Dunbar on the road is no easy task, especially with a Green Dragon roster that is down to 24 players and short on depth.

"Dunbar has good athletes, lots of quickness and are fairly big on the offensive and defensive lines," Holden said. "They're always physical and this year's squad is no different.

"It's not going to be easy, but our guys have to step up and compete."

Dunbar is 2-1 on the season and coming off a 24-10 loss to Riverdale last Friday.

The Tigers run multiple sets on offense and utilize a number of talented playmakers in the backfield as well as at the wide receiver position.

"Dunbar runs a spread offense as well as some I-formation," Holden said. "They run a lot of one-back sets and they have a couple of receivers that are real fast."

Lake Placid had trouble slowing down Sarasota Cardinal Mooney's spread offense in last week's 41-7 loss to the Cougars.

"Dunbar is similar to Mooney, but its players are faster," Holden said. "We have to play better, control the ball and move the chains to keep their offense off the field.

The Tigers use a 3-5 alignment on defense, using their speed to swarm to the ball.

"Dunbar tries to take away the running game with a physical defense," the Green Dragon coach said. "They fly to the ball and we have to execute our assignments and slow them down with our misdirection plays."

Playing its first district game of the season has Lake Placid motivated and fired up for tonight's clash.

"It doesn't matter who we're playing," said Holden. "We have to get better and try to improve from week to week. "I know some guys are in new positions, but this is the fourth week of the season and we need to execute the plays the right way to give ourselves a chance to win."

Kickoff is set for 7:30 at Dunbar High School.

Lake Placid at
Fort Myers Dunbar

When: Tonight at 7:30

Where: Fort Myers Dunbar High School

Cost: $5