Lakeland outscored visiting Mahopac 20-0 in the second half to beat the Wolf Pac 27-13 on Saturday night for its fourth win in a row.
“It means everything to beat Mahopac — especially on homecoming — it was definitely the biggest game of the year. It was for a (potential) playoff berth,” said Lakeland’s Gio LaPeruta. “We knew it all week, had a great week of practice, and our coaches prepared us greatly.”
Besides homecoming, it was the John Marano Memorial Trophy Game. Marano was the Mahopac Touchdown Club president from 1980-1982. He died at age 43 of cancer.
The Wolf Pac won last year 27-7 at Mahopac.
“We brought the John Marano Trophy back last season,” Lakeland coach Ryan Shilling said. “The rivalry trophy began back in the early 1980s, but once Mahopac went to Class AA, the two teams didn’t play until the spring 2021 season.”
Helping propel Lakeland (4-1) to the win was the offensive line of left tackle Brian Godfrey, left guard Scottie Samoyedny, center Justin Zumbo, right guard Jack Sand, right tackle Franke Imbrogno (2 tackles for loss), tight end Aidan Leonard, and H-back Louis Murray (2 tackles for loss).
Anthony Ray (4 receptions, 96 yards, 3 rushes, 26 yards, 11 tackles, interception) also stood out.
“Our line played phenomenal and Anthony Ray was all over the field,” Shilling said.
Trailing 6-0, Lakeland’s Dan Horowitz (3-5, 126 yards) connected with Aidan Leonard (3 tackles, 1 for loss), on a 22-yard touchdown pass, Leonard’s first varsity touchdown, with Dylan Vazquez’s PAT putting the Hornets up 7-6 with 9:56 to go in the first half.
After a second quarter Mahopac touchdown, Lakeland went back on top when LaPeruta (2-3, 54 yards, 17 rushes, 125 yards) ran for a 19-yard touchdown, with Vazquez’s PAT giving Lakeland a 14-13 advantage with 4:06 to go in the third quarter.
“I knew coming in the second half that I had to do something and make an impact on this game, I was down after that interception I threw towards the end of the first half,” LaPeruta said. “I was very mad and coach (Ryan) Shilling told me, ‘hey pick your head up, relax, a lot of football left’ and smacked me on the back and that got me very hyped up to run angry. He called a QB run, I just saw red and found the end zone. It felt great to put my team up after that touchdown and get the crowd going.”
LaPeruta found the end zone again for a 13-yard touchdown run, extending Lakeland’s lead to 20-13 with 9:52 remaining in the game.
“Coach put me in up 14-13 and said, ‘Get in the end zone Gio,’” LaPeruta said. “He called a design run, I bounced it and didn’t look back. I knew I had to dive for it and got in. That was definitely one of the hype-est touchdowns of my career. It feels great to finally beat them and put the section on notice that Lakeland is coming.”
Horowitz threw his second touchdown pass when he connected with Mike Zumatto (19 rushes, 92 yards, 2 tackles) on a 71-yard screen pass. Zumatto caught Horowitz’s pass in the middle of the field at his 29, then ran to his right and down the sideline, for the score.
Chris Spence (8 rushes, 26 yards, 1 tackle), Pat Gibson (5 tackles), Carter Ruggieri (4 tackles), Nate Horowitz (2 tackles), and Jake Kenney (1 tackle) also contributed to the win.
“It was a privilege to play in such an important league game against a great program like Mahopac,” Shilling said. “I’m extremely proud of my players and coaching staff on how we prepared this week in order to beat Mahopac.”
Lakeland’s next game is at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9 at Somers.
At halftime, Lakeland inducted five people into its Hall of Fame: Alex Halpin (2015 graduate, field hockey and lacrosse), Kelsey McCrudden (2018, field hockey, lacrosse, basketball), Rob Caffrey (2011, ice hockey, soccer, lacrosse), Brendan Hourihan (2008, baseball), and Joe Vetrano (2020 baseball, basketball).
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