Highlanders Run Over Red Devils, 31-3
Sat. August 25, 2012 at 12:39 a.m. | By Polk Preps Staff
LAKE WALES' JUSTIN HENDERSON runs for an 86-yard touchdown during Friday night's preseason classic against Kathleen at Legion Field in Lake Wales. (Photo by PAUL CRATE | NEWS CHIEF )
By RYAN E. LITTLE
LEDGER MEDIA GROUP
LAKE WALES | Kathleen scored first, but Lake Wales never let them do it again in a 31-3 win in Friday's preseason classic at Legion Field in Lake Wales.
Quarterback Railond Garrett led the Highlanders with three touchdowns – two in the air and one on the ground – in a game where neither team dominated, despite the misleading, lopsided score.
Kathleen Quarterback A'Treyu Farrior threw two interceptions while Red Devils fumbled three times. Lake Wales had a case of the slippery fingers too, with two of their own fumbles. Meanwhile, Lakes Wales kickers hit only one of five point-after attempts, and star kicker Tate Matthewson didn't make it.
Matthewson was 0 for 4 with two blocked kicks that never had the height to clear the line and a third that banged off the right bar back past the 15-yard line.
"I don't know what happened," said Lakes Wales coach Rod Shafer. "I guess that's why they call them kickers."
Shafer said Matthewson, a top-ranked kicker, was kicking 50-yarders all week in practice and expects him to turn it around for the season opener.
"He probably won't miss one for the rest of his life, but today there was just something in his head," Shafer said.
Kathleen's only score came off the foot of its kicker, Giraldo Matta, when he banged a 28-yarder in the Red Devils' first possession before the scoring drought.
"Trust me, we are going to be a different team come Monday," said Kathleen coach Irving Strickland. "There are going to be no mistakes, and we are going to work that much harder. It's a long season."
Varsity starters only played the first two quarters. The score was 24-3 when backups playing in the third under a running clock were put in. Junior varsity played the fourth quarter without a running clock, 10 plays each.
Lake Wales hosts Orlando Jones in next week's season opener. Kathleen hosts Lake Region.
KATHLEEN 3 0 0 0 — 3
LAKE WALES 6 18 7 0 —31
FIRST QUARTER
KHS -- Giraldo Mata 28 FG, 8:18
LW -- Justin Henderson 86 pass from Railond Garrett (kick blocked), 5:50
SECOND QUARTER
LW -- Garrett 40 run (kick blocked), 5:53
LW -- Henderson 3 run (kick failed) 3:51
LW -- Ezekiel Hayes 5 pass from Garrett (kick failed), 1:05
THIRD
LW -- Ryan Marrell 16 run (Jonathan Smith kick)
