Block Party: Lake Gibson Wraps Up District Title With Blocked Field Goal to Beat Kathleen, 15-13
Sat. October 27, 2012 at 12:36 a.m. | By Solange Reyner
Lake Gibson's Tyler Brown is tackled by Kathleen's Shaquille Black after making a catch during first-half action at Virgil Ramage Stadium at Lake Gibson High School on Friday night. (Photo by ERNST PETERS | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS )
By SOLANGE REYNER
THE LEDGER
LAKELAND | The scowl painted across Kendall Gant's face Friday night didn't look right.
Moments before, the cornerback had just single-handedly secured Lake Gibson's Class 6A, District 10 title when he blocked a 42-yard field goal attempt by Kathleen's kicker, Gildardo Mata, with 19.2 seconds left in the game. He did it in front of nearly 3,000 at Virgil Ramage Stadium.
The final: Lake Gibson 15, Kathleen 13. The win pushed the Braves to 9-0 overall and 4-0 in the district. The last three games have all been come-from-behind victories.
So why wasn't Gant smiling?
"It shouldn't have to come down to clutch situations," he said. "We can't keep doing this in big time games."
Gant was referring to mistakes because Lake Gibson made plenty of those, especially in the first half. The Braves' first two drives ended in interceptions, and their touchdown in the second quarter looked like a pure luck play when Jordan Smith caught a pass in the end zone after it was tipped and nearly intercepted by Kathleen's Kevin Wilson.
By then, the game should have been 9-6 Lake Gibson but the Braves had a touchdown by Tyler Brown called back two series earlier because of an illegal procedure penalty and, to top it off, missed a 31-yard field goal attempt.
"We shot ourselves in the foot all night long," Lake Gibson coach Keith DeMyer said. "It's frustrating because we move the ball at will from 20 to 20 then get into the red zone and our kids tighten up. Down the road that's not going to cut it."
Kathleen also couldn't capitalize on some big opportunities, especially late. The Red Devils missed two field goals down the stretch, one early in the third quarter and the one blocked at the end, and quarterback A'Treyu Farrior threw an interception at the start of the fourth on second and seven while Kathleen was on Lake Gibson's 33-yard line.
Kathleen still had the lead at that point, though, behind two big plays from receiver Ja'Von Harrison, who finished with four catches and 101 yards. He caught a 16-yarder in the end zone over Gant's head in the first quarter and then took a short pass from Farrior and hauled it 79 yards, from the right side of the field to the left, for the score. After the pick by Farrior, Lake Gibson marched 95 yards in 6:55, mostly on the backs of quarterback Trey Congdon and Brown. The Braves made the series count when Congdon scored on a 1-yard run up the middle.
Congdon finished 15-for-24 with 237 yards passing and Brown ended up with 120 yards on 22 carries.
The key was to stop Kathleen on the next drive, though, and Lake Gibson did a good job of that until Farrior found a wide open Marquis Zinnermon down the left side for a 32-yard gain. Two plays later came the field goal attempt and the block.
Kathleen could still have a chance to get into the playoffs, but will need to beat Sebring next week and will need for Bartow to beat Winter Haven.
"I won't take nothing away from them, they're a good football team," Kathleen coach Irving Strickland said. "But we let them off the hook. We didn't take care of business when we needed to and you can't do that against a good football team. They'll make you pay and they did."
Kathleen 6 7 0 0 — 13
Lake Gibson 2 0 7 6 — 15
First Quarter
LG — Safety, 6:40
K — Ja'Von Harrison 16 pass from A'Treyu Farrior (kick failed), 2:39
Second Quarter
K — Harrison 79 pass from Farrior (Gildardo Mata kick), 5:41
LG — Jordan Smith 32 pass from Trey Congdon (Logan Johnson kick), 1:13
Fourth Quarter
LG — Congdon 1 run (kick blocked), 2:10
K | LG
First Downs 13 18
Rushes/yards 30-190 34-167
Passing yards 147 237
Passing 7-16-1 15-24-3
Total offense 337 404
Fumbles/Lost 1-1 0-0
Punts/avg 1-27 2-38.5
Penalties/yds 9-80 13-105
Records 5-3 9-0
Individual Statistics
Rushing: K—Anthony Ware 9-79; LG—Tyler Brown 22-120.
Passing: K—A'Treyu Farrior 7-16-147-1-2; LG —Trey Congdon 15-24-237-3-1.
Receiving: K—Ja'Von Harrison 4-101; LG —Jordan Smith 4-89.
