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Raiders Lock Up Top District Seed

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By DAREK SHARP, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 12, 2007

PLANT CITY - Just in case they fail in their quest for an undefeated regular season, the Plant City High Raiders have a nice laurel to fall back on.

Already, with six weeks to go before the district playoffs, Plant City has secured the top seed for the 6A-8 boys soccer tournament.

Plant City earned that right with last week's 2-1 win at Sarasota Riverview. The Raiders got a last-minute goal from Stevie Lamas to keep their district record perfect at 5-0.

Plant City will host the district tourney starting Jan. 22.

What made the clinching game rewarding was that the Raiders spent much of it without top defender Omar Saenz, who received a red card 20 minutes in.

The refusal to wither against a tough Sarasota Riverview squad was the best sign to date of Plant City's toughness, head coach K.C. Van der Luit said.

"I can't say enough about this team," he said. "We played them, down one man, and we dominated."

The part that really had the coach beaming, something that has been a budding quality for the Raiders, was the team's unselfishness.

When Saenz went out, Van der Luit asked top scorer Johnathan Dupree to play defense, playing only man forward.

"John really stepped out of himself there, going to play defense," Van der Luit said. "For me, these kids know how to play soccer. I don't have to teach them how to play. Building team chemistry and having them believe in themselves is the big thing. And this team has that."

With the top seed and first-round bye in the district tournament taken care of, Van der Luit has the undefeated record to preserve. The win against Sarasota Riverview improved the team's mark to 9-0-2. Sarasota Riverview lost for the first time this season.

In the five remaining regular season games, Van der Luit said he plans to give everyone on the roster some game action. And he's not only hoping to see more players get on the field.

For the home games left against King (this Friday), Brandon and Bloomingdale (in mid-January), the Raiders would like to build more support from fans.

"Our first game, there were maybe 50 people in the stands, and I had the team turn around and look up. I told them the way to fix that is to keep winning," Van der Luit said. "There are definitely more people coming to the games, and even in the hallways at school students will see me and say, 'Keep it up coach.' It's nice for the guys. We can use all the support. If we get that, the games will only get more exciting."

Durant High, meanwhile, is in the running for a top-three district finish despite a 4-0 loss to Plant City.

The Cougars went to 3-1 in the district by beating Lakeland 5-1 on Nov. 27. Durant got goals from five players, Cecil Clarke, Leandro Mesquita, Freeman Bass, Jarrett Williams and Efrain Melendez.

The Cougars are in the midst of a four-game home stand that will bridge the holiday break. This Friday the Cougars host Armwood.

Reporter Darek Sharp can be reached at dsharp@tampatrib .com.

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