Lake Taylor Wins 7 on 7 at Bayside
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Bayside High School in Virginia Beach was the site of
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the first 7 on 7 Passing Tournament this month in Hampton Roads and a team
familiar with winning took home the Championship.
style=> The Lake Taylor Titans outlasted a small, but
strong seven-team field this past Saturday by beating the host Marlins in the title
game.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>The final victory capped an undefeated day for Lake
Taylor, which saw them grab a first round bye for the tournament and also toppled
nationally-ranked Oscar Smith twice.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>For the Titans, they took a lot of positives out of the
day and see progress as they head into the summer.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"It's good to have everybody working on some things to
get ready for the season because you've got to get work.
style=> We need the work.
style=> We've got some new kids in new positions.
style=> There weren't a whole lot of teams, but there
was quality here with teams that are well-coached," stated Lake Taylor Head
Football Coach Hank Sawyer, who has
gone 130-42 in 15 years at the helm of the Titans.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Engineering a rather crisp Lake Taylor offense on the
day was Shiheem
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> Johnson, an All-State performer at
linebacker during his junior campaign.
Johnson got thrust into the role in 2013 when Delmon
Williams, their All-State signal caller from the 2012 state title winning team,
suffered a torn ACL in the opener.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"He's throwing it so much better.
style=> Last year, you call on a kid right at the
beginning of the season that thinks he's going to play tight end, running back
and linebacker to be a quarterback and that's difficult.
style=> Now, he's working on his throws, hitting the
receivers and that's what we need him to do," said Sawyer.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"What happens in football is the other team is going to
check your main guy, so you better find some other guys to go to when you need
to. We'll still run the football, but we're
going to throw it around a little bit, too."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Oscar Smith, which was missing star cogs such as running
back Deshawn McClease
and defensive end Josh Sweat,
suffered its only two losses to Lake Taylor, a team they defeated 42-2 to open
the regular season a year ago on ESPNU.
The Tigers bested Princess Anne in the quarterfinals and Granby topped
Deep Creek.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Bayside made its way to the Championship game by surviving
a couple of battles with Granby and Western Branch.
style=> They edged the Bruins on a remarkable
one-handed snag for a touchdown at the end by Class of 2015 DB/WR
class=SpellE>Jamez
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> Brickhouse,
who's committed to play his College Football at Old Dominion.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Defensively, Lake Taylor was in its usual aggressive,
ball-hawking mode. In tournament play,
they got interceptions from defensive backs
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Nhyre
normal'> Quinerly (Class of 2015) and
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Wayne Davis (2016), each of whom holds
BCS offers, as well as All-Region middle linebacker
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Anfreny
normal'> Yancey (2015).
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>While the headliners like Davis, Quinerly
and Yancey stood out for Lake Taylor, the Titans also received great play from
a couple of others on the offensive side of the ball in
normal'>Marcus Hawkins, a small, yet speedy running back from the Class of
2015, and Carlos Hinton, another
rising senior that plays tight end and has a dependable pair of mitts.
style=>
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Both Hawkins and Hinton hauled in touchdown passes to
create breathing room against Bayside, which tried to inch closer when DB/WR
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Deshawn Doby (2015)
made an interception.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"We've got a lot more playmakers than we thought we
had. We've got some kids under the radar
that are playing real well and can't say enough about them," Sawyer noted.
style=>
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"The kid
normal'>Prezhontay Wilkins was
a backup receiver/outside linebacker and he scored a few touchdowns today.
style=> Joe
Bryant, one of our coaches' young son, is a rising
ninth grader is going to be alright.
class=SpellE>Dazmine
style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'> Palmer is also coming around for us.
style=> We're happy about that, and also that
class=SpellE>Shiheem hit a lot of open kids."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Lake Taylor will not be headed to Clemson this year due
to the fact that their Team Camp will be going on while the Titans are still in
school. Instead, the Titans will take
25-30 players to James Madison University's Team Camp on June 22nd for four
days.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>The next few months will be imperative as they always
are for football teams gearing up for the season.
style=> However, that time could be even more precious
in some instances.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"It's kind of different this year with the All-Star
Game being away (in Lynchburg) and the state having that 10-day layoff where
you can't work your team out. That's
rough," Sawyer pointed out. "Take a team
like Oscar Smith who has an early game in August and also Norview.
style=> Since it's 10 days
it splits up the two weeks. You've got
to ask the kids to go work out on their own and then come back and see me."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>After completing a perfect 15-0 season in 2012 to
capture the school's first ever State Championship in football, Lake Taylor
finished 10-3 a year ago. Their loss
came in the regional semifinals to eventual State Champ Dinwiddie, 28-0.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Even with the graduation loss of some valuable seniors
like stud DE/TE Jalyn Holmes to Ohio
State, the Titans are expected to be one of the top contenders for the Group 4A
State Championship next season.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"They're hungry because people are saying the State
Championship from two seasons ago was a fluke.
We went back to where we won 10 games, lost and went home.
style=> It's not the same team and it's a new year,"
remarked Sawyer.
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>"Kids have worked well in the off-season in the weight
room and now we're asking them to do some things.
style=> Not a lot of kids miss workouts.
style=> We didn't bring a lot of kids here because
they weren't going to play and sometimes you want to focus on the guys you
have. We need some kids to turn the
corner that were J.V. or backups last year and make contributions to the team."
"Verdana","sans-serif"'>�
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