Sports Editor Justin Kline picked his top five Plant City-area sports teams of the year.
1. Strawberry Crest cheerleading
In 2016, nobody dominated their sport quite like the Strawberry Crest cheerleaders did.
Crest’s cheer team has developed into one of the top programs in the state, and was near-untouchable this year. The Chargers went undefeated in the season and won the district, regional and state competitions, and its score of 91.4 in the state’s Small Co-Ed division competition became a new record. The average margin of victory was 17.6 points, and the biggest lead it had was 26.25 points over the Western Conference district runner-up.
In the UCA National Championships, Crest became the first Hillsborough County school to ever win a medal, and the team’s third-place finish was the best of any program from the state of Florida.
2. Strawberry Crest girls basketball
The 2016 season was just about perfect for the Strawberry Crest Lady Chargers. In fact, the regular season was perfect. For the first time in program history, the Crest girls ran the table and didn’t lose a game until the postseason. That includes district wins over a talented Durant program and Tampa Bay Tech’s potent offense.
On the strength of players such as Terra Brooks, Ayanna and Briana Trigg, Crest outscored opponents, 1,595 to 815, and even held one foe — Hillsborough — to nine points in one game. Crest made it to the regional semifinals, where it finally met its match: Palm Harbor University brought the Lady Chargers’ good times to an end with a 66-56 win.
Crest seems to be picking up where it left off, starting the 2016-17 season with a 7-0 record.
3. Plant City softball
Plant City’s softball team finally seems to have what it’s spent several years looking for.
In head coach Ashley Bullion’s second year with the Lady Raiders — words that haven’t been written in about half a decade — the team made a huge leap forward, finishing with a 24-3 overall record (7-1 district). It was the only 8A-6 team to score at least 200 runs, finishing with exactly 200, and its 58 runs allowed were the lowest of any 8A-6 team, edging out the Riverview Lady Sharks by 30.
Bullion trusted freshman Ashley Blessin to carry most of the pitching load, and Blessin responded with 18 wins and over 200 strikeouts on the season. It also helped that the roster had 10 players who batted over .330, led by catcher Edmilly Molina’s .443 average, 35 hits, 32 RBI, seven doubles, four triples and two home runs.
4. Durant football
Despite losing key seniors Jaden Garrett and Steven Witchoskey to injury, Durant football got back on track in 2016.
Pitted against tough district competition in Tampa Bay Tech and Plant City, the Cougars went 8-2 (5-1 district) in the regular season, losing the district championship to Tampa Bay Tech but returning to the playoffs as 7A-9 runner-up. The team relied on a stout rushing attack, smart quarterback play, a defense that wouldn’t quit and strong chemistry to get the job done.
Junior Carlton Potter did a fine job commanding the offense, completing 62% of his pass attempts and throwing for 18 touchdowns in 10 games played. The running backs platoon, led by Cameron Myers and Jake Harris, combined for 1,877 total yards and 23 touchdowns.
The defense was bolstered by the pass rushing unit, which generated 21 sacks and 35 hurries.
5. Plant City Dolphins football – Midgets
As usual, it was a good year to be a Plant City Dolphin. But, unlike 2015, there was only one Dolphins squad that was able to reach the summit.
That team, the Midgets, was one of just two Dolphins teams that wasn’t perfect in the regular season, finishing with an 8-2 record. But the team had a perfect record in postseason play, picking up a 35-0 win over the Tampa Chiefs in the first round and a 13-0 win over the Lakeland Gators in the second.
In the Superbowl, Zykee Carpenter led the team to a 20-13 win with three touchdowns, including a 20-yard rushing touchdown in overtime that iced the cake and, after a defensive stop, won the Superbowl.
