Plant City High School’s football team took part in their second and final 7-on-7 tournament of the summer last weekend, crowned champions following an undefeated run through the bracket.
The King of Kings 7-on-7 tournament — hosted by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in partnership with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Tournament SportsPlex of Tampa Bay on Saturday— welcomed 40 teams to the competition this year. Following pool play, which included 10 different groups of four teams, the Raiders made their way into tournament play.
Plant City went 3-0 in pool play before advancing to the championship round with a 20-6 win over Osceola, a 12-6 win over Bloomingdale and a 28-13 win over Sickles in the tournament semifinals. In the finals, the Raiders claimed the title with a 21-14 victory over American Collegiate Academy.
Head coach James Booth is no stranger to winning the King of Kings tournament with Plant City however, taking back-to-back titles at the event in his first two seasons with the Raiders. The event has since moved from Lakeland to Tampa, offering a larger venue and larger number of teams in attendance.
“I thought that it was ran really efficiently and there was a lot of great competition out there,” Booth said. “You’re able to see some of these teams that you might be playing in the season and kind of build that rivalry going into it. Obviously it’s June and there’s a long way to go and hopefully we continue to improve just as other teams are looking to improve as well, but it does give you a bit of confidence going into the beginning of fall camp and preparing your guys for a long road ahead.”
While the tournament itself is limited to skill positions on offense and linebackers and defensive backs on defense, the event also held a Big Man Camp for offensive and defensive linemen, as well as a punters and kickers clinic.
And in a football-crazed state like Florida, preparing for the Friday night lights of fall is a year-round job. While coaching staffs can largely piece together what the following season’s starting lineups will look like in spring practices, these summer tournaments and joint practices with other schools help Booth and other coaches find those fringe players who may be ready to make an impact on varsity.
“For our returners, it just solidifies our timing and helps us correct route running,” Booth said. “So for our guys that are returning, that have been in the system, it does allow them to get a little more coaching with us and some competitiveness going on. But it also allows us to throw some guys into the fire and see the ability that they have.”
One of those young players that was thrown into the fire and came out a potential standout was receiver C.J. McClain, a rising sophomore, as he hauled in the go-ahead touchdown in Plant City’s championship game.
And those evaluations may be more important than ever for the Raiders right now. Plant City wasn’t able to field a junior varsity team in 2020, leaving many young players without valuable, developmental game reps each week and limited to practicing alongside the varsity squad. Starting quarterback Nicholas Felice and the team’s top four receivers were all graduating seniors last year. Most notably, wide receiver Mario Williams, set to play for Oklahoma in the fall as ESPN’s top-rated pass-catcher in the 2021 class.
“We’ve lost a high number of contributors due to graduation so we’ve got a lot of open spots,” Booth said. “But through the spring we were able to identify some of those guys that are going to fill those roles and some new roles have been identified for our kids, some leadership roles and some roles where they will have to be relied more on. So our guys will have an opportunity to compete.”