The Central Florida Game of the Week features two teams currently ranked in our Top 15 statewide football rankings for Week 3. The No. 4 Lakeland Dreadnaughts (1-0) travel up I-4 to take on the No. 10 Lake Mary Rams (2-0)
The Lakeland Dreadnaughts haven’t played since their dominant defensive performance back on August 23 where they defeated Miami Central, 16-8. The Dreadnaughts will now look to turn down one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the state in four-star junior quarterback Noah Grubbs (Notre Dame commit).
The Lake Mary Rams are coming off a defensive dominance where they contained four-star running back Taevion Swint (UCF commit) and the Kissimmee Osceola offense where they had just five first downs for the entire game.
Grubbs is coming off an outing where he went 18-for-32 for 197 passing yards, 1 touchdown pass and threw an interception during their 24-7 win over Kissimmee Osceola back on August 30.
It will be interesting to see how the Lake Mary run game factors against a strong front-seven in Lakeland’s defensive line that is led by four-star junior linebacker Malik Morris and three-star defensive end Donta Jenkins who came up huge down the stretch in the season-opening win over Miami Central two weeks ago.
The Dreadnaughts offense is led by senior quarterback Zander Smith (North Dakota State commit) who was held to just 122 passing yards, on 6-of-12 passing in the season opener. The Dreadnaughts offense currently remains a work in progress but expect junior running back Jadarius Dobie to get a good chunk of rushing yards as well as senior wide receiver Shanard Clower who can be very effective in the passing game where he is coming off a game-high 77 receiving yards in the win over Miami Central.
The Rams defense is led by senior safety Jack Lorenz who has a team-high 11 total tackles through the team’s first two games of the season. Senior linebackers Aiden Herzberg and Luke Prieto will be each a name to watch for as well where they come into the contest with 10 total tackles on the season.
This matchup will feature two coaches who are no stranger when it comes to making adjustments throughout the game in Marvin Frazier (Lakeland) who learned under the legendary Bill Castle taking over the reigns in 2023, after Castle retired where he led the Dreadnaughts to 8 state championships. On the other side features Scott Perry (Lake Mary) who is in his 20th season at the helm for the Rams.
