Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the Plant City Raiders look really good right now.
The Raiders opened up district play with a 50-5 win over Strawberry Crest on Friday, Sept. 16, in which the team was slowed only by a series of weather and referee-related delays. Even though Crest only managed to hang five points on Plant City, I can honestly say that I saw things I liked from both teams.
Crest, for example, looked better at sustaining drives than it did a couple of weeks ago when I watched the Chargers play Newsome. I don’t know if the team was just more motivated against the Raiders – which, as both a crosstown rival and a district foe, would not be surprising – but the team looked more confident marching down the field. Heck, it managed to cross midfield on one of its own drives at least two or three quarters earlier than it did against the Wolves.
This is at least in part because someone has emerged from the running back committee as, in my opinion, the lead back. I really like the way Theo Williams has been playing this season: undersized as he may be, he’s dangerous in space and treats every handoff or designed pitch like he wants to make the home-run play. As a fellow short guy, I salute both he and Plant City’s Tydre Ward for tearing defenses (and special team units) up.
Plant City, meanwhile, flexed its muscles in all areas of the game. Running back Treshaun Ward played only one half plus one kickoff of football and still scored four touchdowns, averaging 9.2 yards per carry. Corey King did his thing, looking good in and out of the pocket and scoring twice. Sophomores James Gordon and Ashton Mincey led the defense with a combined 20 tackles and one sack (by Mincey).
Things got somewhat physical early on in the game, as there was a new wrinkle to this crosstown rivalry: several Raiders are transfer students who played for Crest last season and, as such, had a little more motivation than the Raiders who haven’t played anywhere else. I just want to remind everyone on both teams that, although this is a crosstown rivalry, you’re better off letting the final score speak for you than doing anything to earn an unnecessary roughness flag and hurting your team in the moment.
Plant City has got to be in a good mood right now, considering what else happened that night: East Bay, the Raiders’ opponent this week, hosted Durant and got crushed, 38-3, thanks to a tremendous second-half effort by the Cougars. Notable for the Raiders is that the Durant defense held the Indians’ ground attack, their bread and butter, to 3.9 yards per carry and no touchdowns on 45 attempts.
The Raiders will definitely want to go into their Friday, Sept. 30, game at Tampa Bay Tech with a 2-0 record in district play. No two schools pose a greater threat to Plant City’s district finish than Durant and Tech.
Speaking of Tech, the Chargers are now going to follow a tough home matchup against Plant City with a tough road matchup against the Titans. This will be a chance for the Chargers to see what its pass defense can do, as Tech loves nothing more than to sling that football around.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.