Since we had no more surprise sports stories this week, Friday Night Notes is back.
The Plant City Raiders are the only game in town and, for much of last Friday’s playoff game against East Lake, the Raiders looked like the only team in the game. It was a 47-34 win that probably should have been 47-10.
I can explain.
East Lake looked pretty good coming into this one, especially after closing the regular season with a 45-21 win over Clearwater. The team has a good running back in Xavier Jackson and a QB, Bobby Goldinak, who can manage a game and do the things you need to do to get wins. Defensively, they’re big up front, and running backs don’t have the easiest time hitting the holes. Unless you play in an awful district, you don’t make the playoffs if you can’t play the game.
But Plant City had two distinct advantages working in its favor: speed and size.
The Raiders played at about twice the speed of the Eagles and, thanks to the footwork of Markese Hargrove and Corey King, were able to hit those holes before East Lake could
close them up.
And, while none of the Plant City running backs could be considered big by any means, wideouts T.J. Chase and Antoine Thompson created plenty of mismatches against the Eagles’ small defensive backs. Chase, in particular, looked like he was having an easy time making catches: he hauled in two scores, though he should have had three.
The officiating in this game wasn’t terrible, but there were two calls against Plant City in the first half that left many fans reeling.
I can’t speak for the first one, which negated a Tydre Ward touchdown. (I was on the other side of the field, shooting photos with the defenders behind Tydre.)
But I can speak for the second one: Chase made a catch in the end zone, had possession of the ball and, after getting up, threw it to the ground to celebrate. The refs ruled that he didn’t have possession of the ball. Since the back judge had a clear view of the catch, I have no idea how they came to that conclusion. Heck, I even got it on camera — it happened right in front of me. Fortunately, King ran for a score immediately afterward.
It was also a solid effort by the Plant City defense. It forced several turnovers, got a pick six and held steady for a goal-line stand. Kwest Fluitt, who had a fumble recovery and the pick six, deserves some props for having a big game.
There are two things I’m sure the Raiders have been working to fix in practice this week.
East Lake got most of its first downs and touchdowns by running up the middle. The Raiders need to shore things up in that area, and that’s not too difficult a fix. But the thing that really could have killed a lesser team was the fact that the cornerbacks rarely turned around to make a play on the ball. It may have been all right this time, as Plant City still got a big win. If that doesn’t change, the Raiders will certainly fall victim to more and more big plays and pass interference calls.
So, about Plant City’s next game: I initially thought that a matchup with Countryside would be the most intriguing outcome but, after seeing how Tampa Bay Tech handled them, I may have to walk that one back.
It looks like the Titans have gotten back on their feet with the 31-21 upset, which featured a run of 24 unanswered points. And a healthy, motivated Titans team coming back to 1 Raider Place has the potential to do the exact opposite of what it did last time.
No, 19-3 is not happening again. Count on that.
Friday, Nov. 20, is a much more even matchup for the Raiders, who cannot afford to get too comfortable at any point in the game. I went into more detail about the matchup on the Gridiron Report, which you can listen to at PlantCityObserver.com.
I’ll sum it up: this time, the cooler heads will prevail.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.