Lakeland Dreadnaughts played on September 16th in the Kirk Herbstreit Ohio vs. USA Challenge in “definitely the hardest game we have played all year,” according to Coach Castle head coach of the Naughts.

Coach Flath the offense line coach said, “Oh Yeah, this was one of the hardest games we have played, they were the state champs of Ohio. They almost beat us.”

“This team was deserving of there national ranking, they are a great football program,” said Castle. “They beat the number one team in Ohio and Indiana the week before they played us.”

“They (St. X) made good plays they scored more then most on us,” Flath said when asked if they had problems with Xavier getting through Lakeland’s defense.



“That is a credit to them,” said Castle “ they made plays they won on but they also made mistakes they lost on. This game might have been different if we could have finished on our drives. Several times we got down to the goal line and didn’t score.”

Lakeland High School flew to Cincinnati Ohio on Thursday September 14 to play in the challenge. The Dreadnaughts played St. Xavier on Saturday the 16th and won with a score of 25 to 22 in overtime. The game winning points came from senior kicker Matt Roddenbery as he kicked a “bad one that was good” through the post on the Naughts first overtime possession. The game ended when Steve Wilks stepped in front of Ryan Morris pass on the goal line for an interception in the St. X OT possession. “Our team benefited from this game because they learned they could go on the road and play and win.” Castle said “it was a build up to the game it had many distractions and we beat them in there own backyard.

Many of the distractions from this game came from the trip to Ohio. Most of the team had never actually been on a plane but over all it was a “good trip,” Castle explained.