Tarpon Springs, FL – East Lake will return to the 7A state semi-finals for the second year in a row after defeating Fort Myers 40-7 tonight. East Lake, now 13-0 will travel to St. Thomas Aquinas (12-1) next Friday night.
The Eagles dominated with an excellent team effort Ignited by Virginia Tech commit, Carson Lydon.
LYDON
I don’t have any numbers to feed you. Don’t know how many tackles he ended the game with, QB hurries or tackles for loss. All I know is he was the baddest dude on the field. Lydon played like one of those throwback Chicago Bears or Pittsburg Steelers linebackers that had teeth missing, several broken bones and just enough pads on to be in compliance. What am trying to say, he played like his season depended on it. Started the game with a monster run, breaking tackles and running over defenders to score the Eagles first TD. Later he swallowed the Green Wave punter causing a turnover and to end the game, spread on a interception for a TD (the icing on the cake). He was a pleasure to watch and the defense fed off his energy.
PLAY ACTION
It’s difficult to effectively run play action passes if the running game is not effective. East Lake wasn’t killing in the run game, but they did not get away from it. Consequently, Fort Myers committed more players to the box to stop the run and East Lake just pulled the ball and receivers were running free after the play action fake. Eagles kept Ft. Myers off balance with a good mixture of smoke screens and isolation passes. very effective offensive game plan that was soundly executed. George Campbell, scored on a beautiful pass, dropped in the bucket from QB Jake Hudson. After that, Fort Myers was committed to not letting Campbell beat them. Sicked two defenders on him for much of the game. Doubling George Campbell presented other offensive options for East Lake and involved role players in the game plan even more.
DEFENSE
Fort Myers didn’t have the most dynamic offense. Pretty predictable, without much of a pass threat. Worked in favor for the Eagle defense that did not allow a point and no impact plays. The 7 points scored by Ft. Myers came from a 98 yard kick off return in the final minute of the second quarter. The secondary put the clamps on the pass game. The linebackers swarmed the run and the defensive line won the battle in the trenches. Senior DT Christian Panduro took up two defenders allowing Henson and Lydon to lunch on ball carriers. S Blake Duckworth had an interception he returned for a TD, S Justin Strnad had several pass break ups and Jonathan Holley tackled like he was competing for a starting job in fall camp!
THE SIDELINE
Experienced coaching staffs handle themselves so different on the sideline. Led by head coach Bob Hudson, the Eagle staff was very composed and seemed one play ahead of the opponent. No personnel or substitution errors. Effective communication with players. They used every opportunity to nail coaching points and the excitement level never rose too high or dropped too low. During the third quarter, East Lake had 4 place kicks (3 field goals and 1 PAT) blocked. Expecting the staff to erupt, they jumped on their guys in a manner the players would understand, but would not create a scene.
7A SEMI-FINALS
East Lake at St. Thomas Aquinas
Niceville at Osceola