By DONALD RIDGEWAY
News-Sun correspondent
LAKE PLACID - In the last 11 years, the Lake Placid football program hasn't found itself with a game that held the magnitude of Friday night's contest with the Dunbar High School Tigers - the winner would all but seal up a state playoff spot.
Missed opportunities and mental mistakes, however, crushed the Dragons as they fell 20-3 at Roger Scarborough Memorial Field.
"We made some mistakes tonight that really hurt us," commented Jason Holden the Lake Placid skipper. "Our kids played hard but couldn't finish."
Things looked great for the Dragons on their opening drive as they used a strong balance of run and pass, riding the backs of Navahri Holden and Caleb Jones.
The first of many mistakes came on a third-and-three inside the Dunbar 30, when a Lake Placid lineman committed a false start to push them back making it third-and-eight.
The Dragons couldn't convert and failed on fourth down to turn the ball over.
On the ensuing drive for Dunbar, quarterback Chris James hit Darius DeLoach for a 65-yard pitch-and-catch for the first score of the game. The Dragons stopped the 2-point conversion to keep the score at 6-0.
After trading punts, the Dragons had their best chance of the night to score as they found themselves inside the Dunbar five, for their first of three trips.
A big run by Holden, who had 39 yards on the drive, and a well executed screen pass from Kirk Veley to Jones took the ball to the nine-yard line.
On first down, Holden burst through the hole but was stopped at the one. Jones was then stuffed on a run that set up third-and-goal at the two when Veley was stripped and the ball was turned over to Dunbar.
Dunbar made the Dragons pay as they took the ball 97 yards on just eight plays.
Lake Placid had the Tigers backed up thanks to several big plays from the defensive front but the back-breaker came on third and long when Schon Thomas took a hand off and weaved down the sideline for an 80-yard run to push the score to 12-0.
The Dragons had a glimpse of life on the next series as Veley found Andre Wilson on a 21-yard throw that was followed by a thundering 11-yard run from Holden.
But the drive stalled out and were forced to punt.
The Green Dragon defense stepped up once again as they forced the Tigers to punt the ball away - on the punt, the snap was poorly handled and it slipped away from the punter giving the Dragons a glimmer of hope.
With just under a minute to go in the half the Dragons had a golden opportunity to get on the scoreboard.
With only second left on the clock, the Tigers were called for an unsportsmanlike penalty to put the ball at the 27-yard line for the strong leg of Steven Guelff, who made it look easy as the ball sailed through the uprights as time expired in the first half.
Lake Placid tried a little trickery to open the second half as they attempted an onside kick that was easily recovered by Dunbar.
With the ball on the Green Dragon side of the 50 yard line, it took the Tigers only six plays to find the end zone.
James was able to connect with DeLoach on three passes on the drive before Thomas took the ball in from five yards out.
The Dragons were able to stop the 2-point conversion to keep the score at 18-3.
Lake Placid had a strong drive going on their next possession, thanks to an eight-yard run by Jones that was followed by a 25-yard Holden scamper.
On the next play Veley connected with Wilson on a 30-yard pass that was negated by a chop block that sent the Dragons back to the 50 yard line, and two plays later the Dragons had to punt the ball away.
The defense came up huge on the next drive, as they were able to recover a snap that sailed over the quarterbacks head giving the offense the ball at the 20.
With yet another golden opportunity, Lake Placid had strong runs by Jones that set the ball up inside the five, but the Dragons weren't able to punch it in and the ball was turned over at the three.
The Lake Placid defense stood strong, forcing the Tigers to punt the ball away from the shadow of their own endzone.
With the ball on the 30-yard line, the Dragons had another shot to score with just over a minute to go in the third quarter.
Facing a third-and-seven, Jones hit the hole for a 20-yard dash before two strong runs gave the Dragons the ball inside the five.
Facing fourth and goal, Veley found an open Anthony Gonzalez in the end zone but while the ball was in the air it was tipped twice by a Dunbar defender and then fell through the arms of Gonzalez.
Once again the Green Dragon defense stood strong despite allowing a couple first downs before forcing a Dunbar punt.
More miscues came on the ensuing possession as the Dragons were forced to punt but the snap sailed over the kickers head for a safety.
The two points pushed the lead to the final margin of 20-3.
Despite the missed opportunities, the Dragons had a strong rushing performance from Holden who had 13 carries for 101 yards while Jones had 16 carries for 60 yards.
The 60 yards rushing pushed Jones over the 1,000 yard rushing mark for the season with two games to go.
Jones marks the first player in Lake Placid to rush for over 1,000 yards since Sedric Clarke did it 11 years ago.
The Dragons hit the road next week for their final district game of the season at Gateway Charter.
Sunday, November 01, 2009 - www.newssun.com/SUN-11-1-LPFB