Lakeland High School Football Dreadnaughts 5A State Champions

Naughts take down Ridge in district game, 35-13
by Jordan Thurn

On a senior night show down, the Ridge Community Bolts succumbed to Lakeland, who won with a score of 35-13. “We did well, we stayed as a team, and we didn’t argue as much this game. That was kind of a first, normally we’re arguing and worrying about what other people are doing instead of doing our job, but tonight we stayed together and we won the game together,” Derek Boles, defensive lineman said, “[Senior night,] it’s crazy, I can’t find any words to put it together. On twitter [Ridge has been] talking about how they beat us last year, and that they were going to do it again, but we came out here and we played football.”

Lakeland started out slow, getting their first touchdown late in the first quarter when Ra’Don Dwight carried the ball for a 1-yard drive to score with 2:56 on the clock, giving the Naughts a lead of 7-0 after Zach Feddeler’s field goal. Dwight would repeat his previous performance on the Naughts next possession, only this time carrying the ball 5-yards to score with 1:54 left in the first, bumping the Naughts to a lead of 14-0. Ridge Community would respond two plays later on a first and fifteen attempt when their quarterback, Kareem Smith went for a 65-yard pass to Cody Pandolfo to score with 1:38 left in the first quarter, moving the score to 14-7.

Ridge would get their last touchdown on their next possession, when Smith went for a quarterback keeper from the LHS 20 to score after a muffed punt resulted in a fumble, moving the score to 14-13 with 9:54 left in the first half. Quarterback, Aaron Johnson would string together a pass to James Robinson for a gain of 6-yards to score with 0:41 seconds left in the second quarter, carrying the Naughts into halftime with a lead of 21-13.

Lakeland would score two more touchdowns in the second half. The first early in the third quarter when Dwight went for a two-yard drive that resulted in a touchdown with 8:53 left on the clock. Trenton Pearson would score the Naughts final touchdown with 8:24 left in the fourth quarter when he received a pass from Johnson from 13-yards out, giving the Naughts their final score of 35-13 for the night.

Anthony Davis led the team with rushing, generating a total of 189-yards out of the Naughts 349 for the night. Defense only allowed the Bolts a total of 152 offensive yards. Trey Thrett caught an interception, resulting in a 35-yard gain for the Naughts. “I feel like my interception gave us a lot of momentum in the game. It turned everybody’s hopes up and we ended up finishing strong,” Threatt said.

Lakeland, now 9-0 moves on to play city rival Kathleen next week at home. “They’re next in line, we have to work hard and play well against them too,” freshman, Anthony Davis said.