Courtesy: PolkPreps.com
Published: 08/27/2010

By ROY FUOCO | Ledger Correspondent

LAKE WALES | Rain delayed the start for about 90 minutes, and the second half was played with a running clock and no score being kept.

In between, Lake Wales overcame a slew of penalties to defeat Kathleen, 15-7, in front of about 1,000 fans Friday night in the Kickoff Classic at Legion Field.

There were plenty of positives for Lake Wales. Quarterback Justin Shafer completed nine of 14 passes for 146 yards and one touchdown, and the Highlanders finished with 205 yards of total offense. The Lake Wales defense held Kathleen to 76 yards.

The major negative was eight penalties for 88 yards.

"We showed we have a lot of weapons, and the defense played real well," Lake Wales coach Rod Shafer said. "We got complacent at the end, and we can't do that."

The major positive for Kathleen was despite it's offensive struggles, the Red Devils scored on their final possession of the first half to get back in the game.

Held to just 9 yards of total offense to that point, the Red Devils went 65 yards on 11 plays, ending with a 1-yard touchdown run on fourth-down by quarterback Isaac O'Neal with 7.8 seconds left in the half.

Lake Wales clicked early offensively, scoring on its first possession. Justin Shafer completed a 17-yard pass to Javess Blue to move into Kathleen territory. Three plays later on third-and-5, Justin Shafer kept the ball on a keeper up the middle and ran 34 yards for the touchdown at 9:36 of the first quarter.

The only bright spot after that was Marcelo Bonani's punt went out at the 3. Lake Wales' defense held, forcing a punt, and a bad snap forced Michael Crespo to step out of the back of the end zone for a safety.

The game turned into a defensive battle for the next few possessions before the half ended with back-to-back scores.