The News Press has named the Lee County All Area football stars. Two of Cypress Lake High’s defensive players were named honorable mentions: Zayne Kimpland and Daniel Johnson.
Johnson is a 6’1″ 185 pound defensive end and offensive tackle who has played varsity football wearing the number 54 since his freshman year. When asked what he believed changed the most about his game in the last year, Johnson answered, “I was able to play without the fear of injury anymore and as we started winning some games I got a lot more confidence. I had many more tackles than I had last year and I became more of a leader for the team.”
He added “I think these changes led to this award because I was able to play without holding myself back. I was able to play faster and more confidently because of this and our success as a team helped.” Early in the season last year Johnson suffered a broken collarbone, this led to him having some concerns being back on the line this year. However, after a lot of work over the summer and the first few games he got more confident along with his team. Johnson is a leader on the defense, and an impressive player making 54 tackles this year, 15 of which being for loss and two sacks. He is looking forward to next year where he hopes to keep putting in the work and make the All Area First Team.
Kimpland is a 6’3″ 210 pound junior who plays defensive end and right guard and has played varsity
football wearing the number 52 since his freshman year. When prompted to describe the differences in his performance between this and last year Kimpland said, “The season went great for me. I broke my personal record in tackles and in sacks. I went from only having 3 tackles a game to having 5+ every game. I got stronger mentally and physically. I learned that before games, the more I think about it, the worse I play because of the fear of messing up my assignments.”
He added, “I think that learning how I could lock in without getting in my head allowed me to do my assignments better, get through the opposing team’s offensive line, and make a play.”
When asked how he thinks these improvements led to him winning this award, Kimpland noted that winning an honorable mention, while prestigious, is not the highest possible award saying, “This award really helps me see what I have done correctly this year but it also helps me see what I did wrong. I know now what to do and what not to do to get all-area next year.” Kimpland is one of the best players on our football team, especially as a member of the defense, recording 67 tackles 28 of which were for loss and an impressive 7 sacks, ranking him 36th in the state for the statistic.
Both Johnson and Kimpland were integral parts of the Panther’s run to the regional finals this past season and are very deserving of this reward, which was made extra special by their closeness as teammates and as friends.
