Ray among Section 1’s best receivers

We want to get better every week of the season and we want to win football games.”

—Coach Ryan Shilling

Lakeland is fortunate to go into this season with Anthony Ray (senior, 5-foot-11, 170 pounds, all-conference in 2025, WR/CB), who was also all-league in basketball and lacrosse as a junior.  

Last fall, Ray amassed 48 receptions, 842 receiving yards, and 8 touchdowns. He’s registered more than 1,100 receiving yards in his varsity career, which started midway through his sophomore season. 

“He’s one of the best players in the section,” said Ryan Shilling, entering his fifth season as Lakeland head coach, after being a Hornet assistant for five seasons. “He has already had a tremendous career. We have had so many great receivers at Lakeland High School in my 10 years and he is right up there with all of them. Anthony is a playmaker on both sides of the ball, and the expectation is for him to make plays all over the field this season.” 

Another Hornet playmaker, Mike Zumatto (5-9, 190, All-League, RB/LB) broke out at the end of last season. He registered 72 carries, 570 yards rushing, 8 touchdowns, and 72 tackles in 2025. 

“We expect him to carry that momentum into this season and have a breakout senior season,” Shilling said. “Michael is a great all-around football player. He has great vision; is a good route runner with very good hands.” 

Mike Lucia (senior, 6’1 180, WR/FS), an All-League hoop performer, who was limited to just six games in his junior season on the gridiron due to injuries, is one of the leaders of the offense and defense.  

“He will be asked to do a lot of different things on offense and make all of the coverage calls on defense,” Shilling said of Lucia, who tallied 10 receptions for more than 300 yards and a touchdown in 2025. “He has big-play potential every time he touches the ball. We expect him to have an expanded role in the offense and be one of the best defensive backs in the section.” 

Frank Imbrogno (junior, 6-1, 260, OT/DT), the only returning starter on either side of the line of scrimmage, will be a leader for a young offensive line. He started at offensive guard and defensive tackle as a sophomore. 

“He had a really good offseason and will look to build on it in his junior season,” Shilling said. 

Ray, Lucia, Zumatto and senior Justin Zumbo (5-10, 200, C/DE) are the Hornets’ captains.  

“We want to get better every week of the season and we want to win football games,” said Shilling, whose team was 5-5 a season ago. “Good teams find different ways to win and that is our goal. We haven’t made the playoffs in Class A since 2019, but that’s where we want to be.” 

Lakeland, which did make the Class B semifinals and finished 6-4 in 2023, opens this season at home against Westlake at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 3, before traveling to crosstown rival Yorktown at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 10.    

“We return several senior skill players that had great junior seasons, but we have a young offensive and defensive front that has a lot of talent, but not a lot of experience,” Shilling said. “We are going to rely heavily on Frank Imbrogno and Justin Zumbo to lead this group and get them ready for varsity competition. We have a good, but young quarterback room with Dan Horowitz (junior, 6-1, 170, QB/FS) and Giovanni LaPeruta (junior, 5-8, 170, QB, RB, LB) that have had good offseasons. The coaching staff has a lot of confidence in both of them.” 

Shilling said the staff is also very excited about its tight ends this season in Aidan Leonard (junior, 6-6, 200, TE/DE) and Louis Murray (senior, 6´3, 200, TE/DE).  

“We definitely think we can be more multiple in our offensive looks this season,” Shilling said. “The key to getting off on the right foot is to get everyone bought in and playing for each other.”