Last week, Plant City was its own worst enemy. This week, it couldn’t have been more focused.
The Raiders dialed in and played well-disciplined football in their 24-10 win over the Bloomingdale Bulls, who would have won the district championship at 1 Raider Place if they won the game. Plant City set up its own chance to win the district title next week against Tampa Bay Tech.
The Bulls started about as quickly as possible, with quarterback Lance Alderson firing off a huge pass caught by Terrel Ferrell and brought to the PCHS 24-yard line, but the Plant City defense wouldn’t let Bloomingdale go any further. The Bulls settled for a field goal that bounced off of the crossbar but counted for three points. It would be the last time they had control of the game.
Plant City then put together its first of many long drives, starting at its own 25 on a touchback and eating up almost five minutes of game time with help from Zamir’ Knighten’s legs and three different receivers. Chris Wilson and Maurice Morris helped keep things moving and De’Qwan Myers finished the drive catching a 10-yard pass from Braxton Plunk in the end zone.
Demije Hollins and the Raiders made life rough for Alderson and the Bulls’ offense all night, keeping playmaker Ferrell and the stable of running backs in check and swarming to the ball. The Bulls did manage to cross into PCHS territory on almost all of their drives but could only manage one more scoring play. Bloomingdale attempted another field goal with 4:58 left in the first half but it missed the mark, giving the Raiders the ball back on their own 26-yard line. Plant City’s second drive in the remaining four minutes ended at Bloomingdale’s 23-yard line with two seconds left and a field goal try that was also no good.
Knighten, whose number was called frequently throughout the game, got a taste of the end zone with 5:09 left in the third quarter. Plunk and Wilson set him up with a 22-yard pass to the Bloomingdale 5 and the shifty running back punched it in three plays later.
Plant City forced a turnover on downs on Bloomingdale’s next drive and drove to the Bulls’ 13-yard line as the third quarter came to an end, and Chris Rodriguez gave the Raiders a 17-3 lead with his leg from 32 yards out with 11 minutes left in the game.
Dominic Gonnella snapped the Bulls’ scoreless streak several minutes later. Bloomingdale made it to Plant City’s 5-yard line in just over a minute with a few solid passes and the benefit of a helmet-to-helmet hit called against Plant City, and Gonnella was able to slip into the end zone with 6:13 left to play and his team down by just one possession, 17-10.
The Bulls looked to have some momentum when they snuffed out Plant City’s ensuing kickoff return at the Raiders’ 14-yard line, but Plant City had other ideas. The PCHS offense chipped away at the defense for four minutes with a balanced attack and put Knighten in prime position to score again with a perfect run-pass option Plunk carried 43 yards to the Bloomingdale 3. Knighten rushed for his second touchdown of the night with 2:06 left in the game.
In a last-ditch effort to put some points on the board, Bloomingdale managed to get into Raiders territory one last time but couldn’t connect on any 34-yard pass attempts into the end zone. Tyreke Harrison broke up the Bulls’ fourth-down Hail Mary attempt and forced a turnover on downs, giving PCHS enough time to take a knee and secure the win.