Lakeland falls to Westlake in opener

Lakeland showed plenty of grit in its opener against Westlake on Sept. 3 but fell to the visitors 27-13.  

Trailing 6-0 at halftime, Lakeland forced a Westlake fumble on the second-half kickoff. 

“Adrian Ramirez did a nice job executing the kick,” said Lakeland coach Ryan Shilling. “We were trying to keep it away from one of their good returners. Michael Lucia helped cause the fumble and Zavier Alli made a great hustle play. This definitely gave us some momentum at the beginning of the second half.” 

That fumble led to a 32-yard touchdown pass from Dan Horowitz to Anthony Ray (6 receptions, 76 yards, 3 rushes, 16 yards), with Dylan Vazquez’s PAT putting Lakeland up 7-6. 

“Obviously that was a big play and came right after a great special teams play coming out of the half,” Horowitz said. “Anthony is a great athlete and we just want to get the ball in his hands in space and let him do the rest. That was my first varsity TD pass, but it was all Anthony.” 

Ray faked out a few defenders and went down the sideline for the score. 

“I trusted in my work ethic I put in all summer and it worked out with a great block by my teammate Mike Lucia,” Ray said. 

Westlake answered with a 31-yard rushing touchdown to go up 13-7, then later went for it on fourth-and-3 from the Lakeland 10, but the Hornets’ defense made a tackle in the backfield to stop the drive with 2:35 left in the third quarter.

“Scottie Samoyedny got the initial pressure and Michael Lucia finished it off from the safety position,” Shilling said. “It was a great play by both. Michael Lucia was great on both sides of the ball despite playing through cramping the entire second half.”  

Westlake added to its lead with a 60-yard pick six to go up 20-7 early in the fourth quarter but Ray followed with a long kickoff return, giving Lakeland the ball at its 44.  

“My first thought was just to put my team in a good position and have trust in each other to drive all the way down to try and get us back in the game,” Ray said.  

Lakeland did just that, with a key play on the drive being a 26-yard pass from Horowitz (13-21, 146 yards, 1 tackle) to Lucia (5 receptions, 65 yards, 10 tackles, 1 for loss, 2 interceptions), putting the ball at the Westlake 4. 

Lucia “made some great catches over the middle tonight,” Horowitz said. “It was a great play call, he ran a great route and the line gave me plenty of time to make the throw.” 

Two plays later, Chris Spence (7 rushes, 15 yards, 3 tackles) scored his first varsity touchdown on a 2-yard run, trimming Westlake’s lead to 20-13 for Lakeland’s final score. 

“Chris’s TD was huge and got us back in the game,” Horowitz said. “That score was a great job by the line. Westlake is tough on D and running yards were tough to come by, even more so on the goal line and they deserve the credit on that one.” 

Brian Godfrey (left tackle), Samoyedny (left guard, 6 tackles, 2 for loss, .5 sack), Justin Zumbo (center, 1 tackle, 0.5 sack), Jack Sand (right guard, 1 tackle), and Frankie Imbrogno (right tackle) made up the line with Louis Murray (tight end, 4-yard reception, 2 tackles, 0.5 sack), and Mike Zumatto (H-back, 15 rushes, 35 yards; 1-yard reception, 6 tackles), being the lead blockers.   

Overall, Horowitz said that the game was a solid start for the Hornets as a team and for himself as a player.  

“However, in no way am I satisfied with my performance,” Horowitz said. “I need to take better care of the ball. I’m sure the rest of the team is not satisfied either with the result. We know that we are good enough to win that game and that we will be back and ready for Yorktown.” 

That game is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10, at Yorktown.  

“This week 0 game was a good test to see how we are forming as a team and playing a league game at Yorktown will be a fun one,” Ray said. “We all have to get to work tomorrow and trust in each other to do something we haven’t done in years (beat Yorktown).” 

Jake Kenney (9 tackles), Pat Gibson (2 tackles), Tristan Wharton (1 tackle, .5 sack), and Josh Martinez (1 tackle) also contributed to the Hornets’ effort against the Wildcats.