5A state semis: Lakeland's offense erupts in victory over Ponte Vedra
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LAKELAND — Lakeland’s dormant offense that managed just three touchdowns in the last two games finally got out of its own way and came back with a vengeance against Ponte Vedra.
Aided by continued stellar play of its defense that came up with three turnovers, Lakeland piled up 510 yards of offense in a 40-13 rout of Ponte Vedra on Friday night at Bryant Stadium in the Class 5A state semifinals.
Lakeland (12-2) advanced to the state championship game for the fourth year in a row and will play St. Thomas Aquinas in a rematch of last year’s 5A state championship game. It will the eighth time the two teams will meet in the championship game. Lakeland holds a 5-2 edge, but St. Thomas won last year, 34-0.
Unlike last season, Lakeland heads into the game clicking on all cylinders as it rushed for 366 yards, passed for 144 yards. The Dreadnaughts held Ponte Vedra’s high-powered passing game to one touchdown and 276 yards of total offense with nearly 100 yards of that total coming after Lakeland led 40-11.
“It was good,” Lakeland senior Malik Morris said. “We came together. I’m proud of us for what we did, but y’all ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Lakeland set the tone when it scored on its opening possession, driving 80 yards on 14 plays. Kelin Hendrix threw the first of his two touchdowns passes, this one 11 yards to Jasper Hebel, to give Lakeland the 6-0 lead.
Hendrix put on a show for the the fans. He was nearly perfect throwing the ball as he completed 13 of 17 passes for 144 yards. He also rushed for 142 yards with 77 coming on a fourth-and-1 touchdown play that put Lakeland up 14-0 at 4:41 of the second quarter.
“We’ve been watching film the last two weeks, and all we’ve been seeing is yellow flag after yellow flag after yellow flag” Frazier said. “We haven’t been seeing a lot of negative plays on our part, so we had to clean up the mistakes — turnovers and the penalties — and we felt like we could play with anybody. So tonight was a decent night.”
There were a couple of early offensive hiccups. The Dreadnaughts did have back-to-back penalties on their opening drive that put them in first-and-18, which they overcame. They fumbled on their second possession and were stopped on fourth-and-1 on their third possession. But once Hendrix scored, Lakeland maintained a two-score or better lead the rest of the game.
The offense wasn’t a one-man show, despite Hendrix’s big night. Running back Ahnari Cooper rushed for 111 yards and three touchdown on 16 carries. Ja’Darius Dobie added 64 yards on five carries. Cam Fuse had a big night with six catches for 95 yards and a touchdown. His score came when he outleaped two defenders for a 36-yard touchdown reception with 3.6 seconds left in the first half that gave Lakeland a 21-3 lead.
“We had ran that that play a couple of plays before and I was open,” Fuse said. “So right before half I told Coach let’s go back to it. I knew my quarterback was going to get the ball to me in the highest point.”
Defensively, Lakeland was facing a quarterback in Cole Rosendahl, who has thrown for more than 3,000 yards this season. He went into the game completing 63.4 percent of his passes. Against the Dreadnaughts, however, he completed just 46.7 percent of his passes (21 of 45) and threw two interceptions.
Lakeland sacked Rosendahl just once but put consistent pressure on him that forced the many errant throws.
“We had to put the pressure on him, make sure that running back (Alex Winkles) didn’t sneak out,” junior defensive end Drew Sapp said. “We knew that running back was kind of like their last. resort.”
Lakeland kept Rosendahl in the pocket and Winkles, a 1,000-yard rusher finished with just eight yards.
The Dreadnaughts’ defense came out strong. The forced a three-and-out on the Sharks’ first possession. Deonte Fielder intercepted Rosendahl on the Shark’s second possession, and Sapp recovered a fumble at the Lakeland 14 to stop the Sharks’ only serious drive when the game was still close.
“It’s total team effort, D-line, linebackers, DBs, and that’s why you schedule the tough games because we’ve seen it all by now,” Frazier said. “It felt good.”
Hendrix’ touchdown run came on the ensuing possession and Lakeland never looked back.
Cooper’s scored all of his touchdowns in the second half as Lakeland’s offense kept its foot on the gas.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland defeats Ponte Vedra in FHSAA Class 5A state semifinals
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