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Early fortunes

Academy at the Lakes is off to a surprising strong start in just its first season and a playoff berth is not out of the question.

By STEVE LEE
Published September 20, 2006

LAND O'LAKES - The Academy at the Lakes' fledgling six-man football team apparently does not need a season to take its lumps.

The Wildcats, 4-1 after Friday's 39-6 win over Carrollwood Day School, are in second place in the inaugural season for the Florida Christian Association of Private and Parochial Schools.

"When we started the jamboree (in May) we knew we'd have some kids, but we figured we'd be somewhere in the middle of the pack," Academy athletic director Bob Kamps said.

Midway through the season, expectations have changed with the Wildcats in the hunt for one of four playoff spots.

"We're expected to be there," Kamps said. "Hopefully we'll be in the championship game."

The Academy's lone loss, 41-27 against Winter Haven Christian, came in the third week in a then-battle of unbeatens.

"We had a lot of mental mistakes in that game," said coach Mark Arbet, alluding to numerous penalties and a fumble at Winter Haven's 1-yard line. "We didn't execute properly."

A bright spot in that game was tailback Tyler Palmer rushing for a school single-game record 208 yards.

"He's just a really gifted athlete," Arbet said. "He's real compact; a hard runner. He's got that ability to cut and move. He's shifty."

The Wildcats are 3-0 at home, including a season-opening 25-15 win over Hillsborough Baptist. Trailing 8-0, they rallied with 25 unanswered points behind Palmer's two rushing touchdowns and Daniel Kwitko's two scoring catches, one each from Palmer and Freddy Santory.

Kwitko had two touchdowns in the second game, one on a fumble return and another on a pass from Santory in an 18-12 win over Lighthouse Christian (Kissimmee). Palmer added a scoring run in that contest.

The Wildcats bounced back from their loss with a 14-6 defeat of Hope Christian (Kissimmee) with Palmer and Shane Arbet, the coach's son, running for touchdowns.

"They came back hard," Arbet said. "We worked hard that week in trying to keep them focused; cut down on mental mistakes, and it paid off."

In Friday's win over Carrollwood Day School, Palmer had two touchdowns with Jason Giglio, Ross Braddock and Arbet contributing one each.

Unlike Kamps, Arbet is not thinking playoffs just yet.

"Right now, we're just taking it game by game and, hopefully, everything falls in place for us," the coach said.

Contact Steve Lee at lee@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 20, 2006, 00:25:34]