Lakeland's New Coach Making The Right Moves
Perhaps Glenwood Ferebee should call it quits as a high school football coach right now. Maybe he should hang up the clipboard and whistle, and draw the line in one of the shortest careers in coaching history.
That way, he could go out with the highest winning percentage in Lakeland history.
As their new coach watched from the sidelines, Neil McKoy and Donovan Wright connected on three touchdown passes as the Cavaliers opened their season with a 34-7 win over visiting Hickory Thursday night. It marked the Cavaliers' first season-opening win since 2001 (their last winning season), their first defeat of Hickory since 2002, and their widest margin of victory since 2004.
"When I came in, I knew the kids were hungry," Ferebee said, "and when you have a bunch of hungry kids, if you can get them to buy into what I want to do, we can win. That's what I've been preaching since the first day I got the job - just the motivation that nobody thinks we can win; we're out to prove everybody wrong."
They did some of that from the start; McKoy opened the scoring with a 35-yard strike to Wright, and a two-yard rush by Cedric Johnson gave Lakeland a 14-0 lead as the first quarter ended.
With just over six minutes left in the first half, McKoy hit Tyquan Lewis at the Lakeland 46, and the Hawks were called for roughing the passer, upping Lakeland to the Hickory 37. Dontarious Boone and Monteria Clemons rushed to the six, but a holding penalty knocked Lakeland back to the 20, and Jeff Kessler sacked McKoy at the 27.
Undaunted, McKoy threw a 12-yard strike to Johnson, then hit a wide-open Wright for a 20-0 halftime advantage.
Eight minutes into the second half, Jaquan Demiel returned a Hickory punt 34 yards to the Hawk 23, and Wright caught a 13-yard scoring pass moments later. A blown Hickory punt gave Lakeland a first-and-goal at the one on the next possession, and Johnson rumbled in for the score.
Scott Fahey ruined the shutout by scooping up a Cavalier fumble and rushing for a touchdown with 3:25 to play. That's part of the reason that Ferebee, who received a Gatorade bath as a first-win present from his team, wasn't quite satisfied.
"We didn't play as good as we could have," he said. "We had a few breakdowns on defense and a lot of breakdowns on offense that we need to correct this week."
They won't get much recovery time; the Cavaliers next host Southeastern District rival Great Bridge, which roared away from Deep Creek with 20 third quarter points Thursday in a 34-12 win. Lakeland's city-mate King's Fork also opened its season with a victory, beating Norview 29-15.
In other district action, in Chesapeake, Grassfield got a resounding win for its first on-field victory ever, stomping Nansemond River 35-6 (although the Grizzlies officially defeated the Warriors last season, the win was by forfeit). Meanwhile, Western Branch narrowly avoided a huge upset, needing two fourth quarter touchdowns to hold off host Churchland 21-14.
