Last year when the Spartans and the Dreadnaughts met in the Spring Lakewood jumped out to a 14-7 lead and then faltered as Lakeland ran off 43 unanswered points in a route. This year was a similar result as Lakewood came out with all the momentum scoring early on a 61 yard touchdown pass from Tracy Johnson to Marquez Valdes. This was immediately after an 85 yard touchdown pass to Rodney Adams was called back because Johnson was past the line of scrimmage.
Lakewood led going into the half 6-0 after both offenses sputtered against the hard hitting defenses led by Jaylen Stevenson (of Lakeland) and Shaquem Griffin of Lakewood. Both players had several bone crushing hits and made key plays on defense to help halt drives.
Coming out into the 2nd half Lakeland coach Billy Castle, known for making adjustments, hit Lakewood on the 1st play from scrimmage with a middle counter that went for 60 yards by speedy running back Robert Smith. Leading 7-6 Lakeland was looking to go up as they drove deep into Spartan Territory when a fumbled exchange was picked up by linemen Ty Drummond and returned 75 yards to give the Spartans a 12-7 lead. The lead would not hold for long however.
After stopping Lakeland the Spartan offense was plagued by penalty after penalty ending up in a 4th and 37 situation. On the punt attempt Lakeland made a very typical play for a Castle coached team blocking the punt and returning it for a touchdown. This staple of the Lakeland aura gave them a 13-12 lead which they would never relinquish.
From that point it was all downhill for the Spartans. The Spartans amassed numerous penalties and mental miscues. Tracy Johnson threw a swing pass that was read and picked off by Jaylen Stevenson and returned it for a TD to make it 20-12 Lakeland. Lakeland was given a short field on their next 2 drives and put up consecutive scores to make it 34-12. Tracy Johnson was knocked out of the game with 3 minutes left in the 4th (as of 11:30PM he was only receiving stitches to his cheek).
Corey Moore stated after the game “We win as a team and we lose as a team. Tonight we lost together. ” This was in reference to the team’s miscues and letdowns late in the game.
Defensive Captain Shaquill Griffin noted that hydration was an issue on their sideline. He also stated they would work hard on conditioning and playing as a team this summer.
Lakewood has enough talent to compete with most anybody in the Tampa Bay Area but in order to capitalize on their advantages they have a lot of hard work and a bit of a ways to go. Last year they were district favorites and this year they may be in more of an underdog role. In my opinion this may work in their advantage as they will come into most games with a chip on their shoulder (or should) and play with undeniable determination.