Plant City-area football fans were in for a treat on Thursday evening, as Durant High School hosted a four-team football jamboree. The games were well-attended, as fans of all four teams poured in to pack the house. There were also several college scouts prowling the sideline – hailing from Florida, Duke, Iowa State, Bowling Green […]
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Plant City schools to play big roles in All-Star game
Sunday night’s Hillsborough County All-Star Game should be a good one: It will pit many of Hillsborough’s best seniors against a group from Pinellas County, and the action will start at 7 p.m. at Tropicana Field, in St. Petersburg. The boys will get big-league treatment, even appearing on the jumbotron before their at-bats. Coaches from […]
Continue ReadingPlant City-area spring football practice has begun
It wouldn’t be the month of May without three things: sunny days, Florida love bugs and spring football practice. All three Plant City-area high schools — Plant City, Durant and Strawberry Crest — are returning to the gridiron, shaking off the rust and, in some cases, carving out new identities. Annual intrasquad games aside, these […]
Continue ReadingPlant City athletes going for gold
Plant City’s Special Olympics Unified Sports teams enjoyed a successful summer in 2013, and this weekend, they will return to Orlando try to recapture the magic. Six teams, most of which are under the Plant City Raiders banner, will represent the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World in four different sports: soccer, athletics, volleyball and […]
Continue ReadingWHAT’S ON KLINE’S MIND? Denzel Drone seeks NFL home
Thanks to ESPN’s constant, almost suffocating coverage, this seems more like a question that’s already been answered. Kid declares for the Draft, hires an agent, performs at his school’s Pro Day and, maybe, the NFL Combine, and then spends the rest of the time leading up to the Draft talking to teams. On one of […]
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Do you have a good sports scoop for us? Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com. VOLLEYBALL + Tomlin Middle girls take title May 8 was a great day to be a Tomlin Tiger: The Plant City middle school’s volleyball team won the Hillsborough County championship. The top-seeded Tigers beat fifth-seeded Benito Middle at home May 7, to […]
Continue ReadingFINAL INNINGS: Plant City baseball and softball
It’s been a good year for many of our area’s prep baseball and softball teams, but the 2014 season has come to a close in both sports. There were plenty of pleasant surprises along the way, and there will be plenty for these teams to look forward to in the future. So, what happened this […]
Continue ReadingATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Jessica McClernan
Durant’s flag football team lost a tight, 6-0 district championship game to Bloomingdale April 30, but the team still enjoyed a historically good regular season. And, after that game, senior captain Jessica McClernan will graduate as the holder of many single-season school records: passing yards (1,853), touchdowns (28), rushing yards (531), and rushing touchdowns (12). […]
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SPECIAL OLYMPICS + Area athletes make state teams Plant City will send six teams to Orlando for next weekend’s Summer Games. Participants include: P.C. Punishers (volleyball): Justin Ford, Joshua Ford, Garrett Johnson, Gregory Hawkins, John Straub, Michael Agustin, Ana Boxtha, Luis Ibarra, Erain Boxtha, Carol Boxtha and Yajaira Trevino P.C. Raiders (volleyball): Kyle Hall, Jesse Culpepper, […]
Continue ReadingBASEBALL: Sickles at Durant
Sometimes, all it takes is one half-inning to change the course of an entire baseball game. That’s exactly what happened to Durant High School on Wednesday night, as a 5-3 loss to Sickles knocked the Cougars out of the postseason. Things were going well for the Cougars for a little while, though: starter Bryce Gainer […]
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