Napier-Watkins in all-star camp, July 28, 1970

By WAYNE STOKES
Sports Editor
Daily Commercial
July 28, 1970

The local area has two of the participants in Saturday night's FHSAA all-star football game, slated for an 7:45 p.m. kickoff at Florida Field in Gainesville.

Richard Watkins, hard-nosed little defensive halfback from Coach Dub palmer's football emporium in Wildwood and Mike Napier, Leesburg High School's do-everything All-State quarterback, are both slated for action as part of the North All-Star squad, coached by Gene Cox Tallahassee Leon mentor.

Watkins, a fine team leader and big-play man for Coach Palmer's strong Wildwood Wildcat team last year, takes home the honors for being the smallest man in either all-star camp. Little Richard, standing only 5'9" and tipping the scales at a whopping 150 pounds when well fed, has the title of being the smallest all-star in camp wrapped up in a runaway. His nearest challenger in the smallness derby is one of several all-stars that weigh in at the 175 mark.

Watkins is expected to see action on the kick return teams and will probably see action at one of the safety spots. The coach of the South all-stars is Charlie Livingston of Brandon High School and he is a coach that likes to put the pigskin in the air lanes at every opportunity.

With the South all-stars expected to throw the ball as much as possible, it should prove to be a busy night for all the North defenders.

Napier, the rifle armed quarterback of the State Class A Runnerup Leesburg Yellow Jackets, will be playing in his second FHSAA all-star game this year. Mike, headed for Memphis State University on a football scholarship in the fall, also played in the state high school baseball all-star game in Lakeland earlier in the year.

Napier has been a superb athlete for Leesburg High School during his career there, excelling in every sport he had time to participate in. If time had allowed it, Napier could have been equally adept on the track and basketball court, as he obviously was on the gridiron and baseball diamond.

Being a tremendously coordinated athlete with a desire to win, Napier is expected to get one of the starting nods as a defensive halfback in the all-star game Saturday night. He was a regular for the Yellow Jackets in the defensive secondary, doing two-way duty as both an offensive and defensive standout.

Napier possesses excellent speed and could be developed into a tremendous running back, if his arm wasn't so powerful and accurate. He throws a nice long bomb pass, attributed to by the many touchdowns racked up by Napier and Greg Williams, his outstanding receiver at LHS.

Standing in the way of Napier seeing much activity at the quarterback spot Saturday night is Fred Geisler, high school All-American quarterback from Orlando Edgewater. Coach Cox likes to attack with the triple option offense made famous by the Texas Longhorns and he figures that Geisler is best suited to the attack, new for most of the all-star team members.

Some of the standouts that are slated for duty Saturday night that may be familiar to many area fans include Rick Browne, the one man wrecking crew from Lyman, that completely overran the Jackets in 1968. He will be the starting fullback for the North and gives the triple option a very potent spearhead for the running attack. Browne is bound for the University of Florida and should have a brilliant career at the home of the Gators.

David Anderson, one of the stickouts on the fine Lake City squad that had such a battle with the Leesburg Yellow Jackets this year, should be one of the mainstays in the line for Coach Cox.

John Theobold, fleet footed flanker from Palatka South, came to Leesburg with the Palatka baseball team for the Regional Tourney this past season and Coach Buddy Lowe is sure to remember him.

On the South squad, who of the Leesburg Yellow Jacket followers could forget Bobby Bennett of Tampa Blake. This quick handed youngster made the art of pass defense look as if he wrote the book in the State Class A Championship game at Tampa Stadium last fall. Bennett is a surefire bet to open in the secondary for the South. He led the attack for Blake as they grabbed the State Championship away from the Jackets.

Another star player that appeared before the local fans is Decovan McCarthy, quarterback of the fine Auburndale Bloodhound team that appeared in one of the preliminary playoff games against the Jackets last year.  McCarthy, at home in the secondary as well as at quarterback, is a fine all around athlete that is Tampa University bound in the fall and is expected to get the opening nod from Coach Livingston at the field general spot.

Hard hitting Ed McGlamory of Belle Glade High School was a thorn in the side of the Jackets all night in their Regional playoff victory last year. This is the game that local fans will remember for a long time to.

With both teams being so equal in size and individual talent, the FHSAA annual football all-star game has to be rated a tossup.

Come because of the way the Jackets fought back from the brink of defeat to capture the important game on the way to the state playoffs.

Players unfamiliar to most local fans but ones that are expected to be standouts in the all-star game include Joe Goldstrand, the All-American split end from Kathleen, and big 6'5" flanker, Joel Parker from Clearwatercareers ahead of them. Gold strand is headed for Coach Bill Peterson at FSU and Parker is going to Gainesville and Doug Dickey.

We did some figuring and found out that the size of the two teams is remarkably similar. After checking the weights of all 33 players on the South squad, the average weight was just a shade over 200 pounds. The average height on the squad was 6'3/4".

On the North side of the roster, the average weight per man registered only 199 1/2 pounds, with the average height being 6' 3/4 also.

WAYNE STOKES
Sports Editor
Daily Commercial

www.dailycommercial.com
July 28, 1970

 

 

Article provided by:
Gerald Lacey
Staff Writer
Carver Heights Quarterback Club
1986 Varsity Jackets Football Lettermen #82
Class of 1988 Leesburg High School 

leesburgyellowjacketsfootball@yahoo.com
www.leesburgyellowjacketsfootball.com

 

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