As a former offensive player, Plant City head coach Robert Paxia knows how important it is to have a good offensive line in place.
When the Raiders’ O-line took some graduation-related hits before the 2016 season, the remaining players knew someone would have to step up and fill some big cleats. In Paxia’s opinion, no one has risen to the challenge and improved quite like senior Christian Austin has.
Austin, who has played football in all four of his years as a Raider, knows how far he’s come as a player even in the past year.
“Everything improved,” Austin says. “Run blocking, pass blocking, picking up linebackers — pretty much everything.”
To fill the void left by some of those departed Raiders, such as Jamal Savage, Austin says he prepared by focusing on one thing at a time. He’s not afraid to admit his technique in 2015 could have been considerably better, and he chose to work on one thing at a time in the offseason.
“Every day it was one thing,” Austin says. “I kept improving. Everything got better and better as I went on. I focused most on my run blocking. That was what I was really bad at last season. As soon as I got that down, I started working on my pass blocking, and it all just came together.”
This year, Austin has been a key player on one of the district’s best offensive lines. Although individual stats are not kept for linemen, one doesn’t have to look very far to see what kind of impact it made: Austin and the O-line helped sophomore running back Treshaun Ward gain 999 yards and score 12 times on 107 touches, good for 9.3 yards per carry. As a whole, the Raiders have run for 1,451 yards and 16 scores.
Although missing out on the playoffs put a damper on Austin’s season, he’s hoping the Raiders will do what they can to show people they’re still a dangerous squad.
“We want to blow out Freedom and show everybody that we are a playoff team, that we deserve to be in the playoffs,” Austin says.
VS. FREEDOM
With Nathan Hamilton returning to the offensive line, Plant City should be in good enough shape to take on the Patriots in Tampa.
Freedom has lost five of its last six games, with one win being a 44-7 beatdown of Leto. Most recently, Sickles went to Freedom and handed the Patriots a 34-18 loss.
The Patriots are winless thus far against 7A-9 teams, having taken a 34-13 loss at East Bay in the Friday, Aug. 26, season opener. They were also shut out twice at home in October: once in a 48-0 loss to Gaither, and once again in a 59-0 loss to Plant.
A replenished O-line should help Plant City, as only one rusher in last week’s Lennard game gained more than nine yards and had more than two touches: senior Tydre Ward ran 31 times for 186 yards.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.