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Raiders Will Face Osceola In Playoffs

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By DAREK SHARP, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 10, 2007

PLANT CITY - Having just lost key district games, the football teams from Plant City and Durant were on a mission: to find out the score of another game.

By the end of the night Nov. 2, the news was not what either team expected.

For the Raiders the news was fine, but it wasn't for the Cougars. The Raiders are headed to the playoffs - just not where they figured to be - but Durant had been eliminated from postseason contention.

Plant City will open the playoffs not at Lakeland High School, which is what the Raiders envisioned after they were defeated Nov. 2 by Brandon. Instead, Plant City heads to Kissimmee Osceola, by virtue of Osceola's stunning win over football powerhouse Lakeland.

"It's not like we were jumping for joy," Plant City head coach Kevin Kelley said. "Everyone's like 'Hey, you don't have to play Lakeland' but playing the team that just beat Lakeland doesn't sound like much of a prize. It's kind of a pick-your-poison deal."

Heading into its battle with Brandon for the District 5A-7 championship, Plant City figured the winner would not only get to start the playoffs at home, but avoid having to run into three-time defending state champ Lakeland in the first round. But with Lakeland losing for the first time in 53 games Brandon's "reward" for beating Plant City was a meeting with the Dreadnaughts.

The playoffs begin Friday.

Kelley said that unlike Lakeland, his coaching staff is not familiar with Kissimmee Osceola. By Florida High School Athletic Association rules, teams that meet in the playoffs are required to exchange game tapes from the past three contests.

One concern for the Raiders has to be Kissimmee Osceola running back Bubba Brown. The senior is a 1,000-yard runner in the mold of Marquel Gilmore, who rumbled for 248 yards to lead Brandon to the 26-14 win Nov. 2 at Raider Stadium.

"We wanted to hold him to about 150 yards, but it didn't work out that way. He's just a great back," Kelley said.

At Riverview, where the Cougars were beaten 28-7, Durant was planning to host a three-team tiebreaker to decide District 6A-6's two playoff participants.

But Sarasota Riverview upset Sarasota. With that result, both Sarasota schools finished with 2-1 district records, and Durant and Riverview were 1-2. Although Sarasota Riverview's overall record was 3-7, the Rams won the district title.

Had Sarasota, which was 2-0 in the district, been able to win, Durant would have hosted the two Sarasota teams in a Monday tiebreaker.

Durant fell to 4-5 and was scheduled to wrap up its regular season Friday at Bloomingdale.

Reporter Darek Sharp can be reached at dsharp@tampa trib.com.

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