Though the Plant City Raiders started strong against 2019 Class 7A-Region 3 finalist Manatee on Thursday night, an action-packed fourth quarter flipped the game in the Hurricanes’ favor with a 32-27 final score.
The Raiders (1-1) took advantage of Manatee’s (1-0) rust early in the game, opening things up when Nick Felice hit Mario Williams for a long touchdown pass on the game’s first drive and immediately forcing a turnover on the ensuing kickoff. Running back Reggie Bush, whose heroics kept Plant City alive late in the fourth quarter, nearly had a 36-yard rushing touchdown with 6:46 remaining in the quarter but it was called back on offensive holding.
Manatee spent the rest of the quarter marching downfield and cut the Raiders’ lead to 7-6 to open the second quarter, but Plant City answered on the next drive and kept the pressure on from there. Williams hauled in a pass and got as far as the Manatee 14-yard line, Bush ran the ball as far as the goal line (but a false start on Plant City took the Raiders back to the Manatee 6) and Felice threw his second touchdown pass of the night to Reagan Ealy for the 14-6 lead.
As soon as Manatee got the ball back, Rhet Conyers tipped a pass for Todd Miller to intercept, putting the Plant City offense back in the game at Manatee’s 47-yard line.The home team drove deep into the Hurricanes’ red zone and had to settle for a 32-yard field goal attempt, which was blocked. The Plant City defense forced a punt with 3:58 left and Williams cut through the coverage to get the Raiders to Manatee’s 26-yard line. All Plant City needed was one play, a short pass from Felice to Jose Rodriguez that Rodriguez took to the house for a touchdown. This point-after attempt was no good, however, setting the score at 20-6.
The Raiders forced Manatee to punt with two minutes left and were able to gain about 17 yards on their next drive, but Felice threw his first interception of the night with 57 seconds left in the half and the Hurricanes suddenly found themselves starting at the Plant City 28-yard line. Manatee chipped away at the Raiders’ defense with help from a pair of penalties and punched in a touchdown as time expired to set the score at 20-12 heading into the break.
The second half was very different for the visitors. Manatee had possession for more than eight minutes of the third quarter and scored on the first of its two drives, gambling on fourth down and eight from Plant City’s 12 and succeeding with a pass floated into the right corner of the end zone. The two-point conversion attempt failed, preserving the Raiders’ 20-18 lead. The next PCHS drive ended about four minutes later with Felice’s second interception of the night, though that one gave Manatee the ball with dodgy field position at its own 11-yard line.
Manatee’s second drive extended into the start of the fourth quarter and finished 55 seconds into it when Bernard Dunbar punched in a score from five yards out and quarterback Jayse Berzowski decided to tuck the ball and run it into the end zone for two more points. Manatee finally got the lead it wanted with a 26-20 score.
That didn’t seem to faze the Raiders, though. Ealy returned the kickoff all the way to Plant City’s own 47-yard line and soon caught a pass on a slant to get Plant City to Manatee’s 23-yard line. Bush ran for nine yards on the next play and followed that up with a quick 14-yard dash into the end zone for a touchdown. The PAT was good and the Raiders were back on top, 27-26, with 7:10 left in the game.
Manatee closed out the night’s scoring on its next drive, which ate up a little more than three minutes going from deep in its own territory to Plant City’s red zone. Berzowski threw an 18-yard pass for the touchdown but was a little high on the ensuing two-point pass attempt. Still, the Hurricanes regained the lead for good with 32-27 on the scoreboard.
Down by just five points, Plant City had one more chance to snatch back the lead and win. Starting from their own 20-yard line after a touchback, the Raiders used a 15-yard facemark penalty against the defense, another strike to Ealy in the middle of the field and 34 rushing yards from Bush to get deep into Manatee’s red zone with just under a minute and a half left to play. But Manatee sealed the win with 1:21 left by picking Felice off in the end zone and taking it all the way to the Raiders’ 31-yard line, then running out the clock.