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New Challenges Await Plant City Raiders

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By DAREK SHARP, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 14, 2007

PLANT CITY - All year long, District 5A-8 was recognized as being hands down the toughest football district in Florida.

Although the Plant City Raiders never had to worry about competing with the likes of Lakeland, Lake Gibson and Kissimmee Osceola in order to make the playoffs, those 5A-8 teams sat on the horizon.

This Friday the inevitable meeting arrives. Plant City heads to Kissimmee to take on the Osceola High Kowboys in a Class 5A region quarterfinal match-up.

Making the assignment tougher - as if playing the top-ranked team in the state isn't enough so - is the fact Plant City has lost one of its key players to injury. Linebacker Brent Butler's Raider career came to a premature end when he suffered a broken ankle during the Nov. 5 loss to Brandon.

Not only will Butler's absence force players such as Duran Lowe, Michael Sykes and Kenny Adams to shift around on defense, it will affect the special teams as well.

Butler was the Raiders' long snapper, handling those critical duties on field goals and punts.

"No problem, I'm sure we won't have to punt at all," joked Raider head coach Kevin Kelley. Taking Butler's long-snapping role will be a freshman, Brandon Calvo.

In addition, Butler was part of Plant City's "Jumbo" package on offense, where two defensive players are brought into the backfield to block. Lowe, a fierce hitter on defense, will handle Butler's role there.

Kelley said that Butler will help out in the coaches' box.

"He's going to be up there, charting plays and watching for formations," Kelley said. "He's a pretty sharp kid."

Kissimmee Osceola's last playoff trip, ironically, was ended by Durant. The Cougars took out the Kowboys in the 2003 regional semifinals en route to a state semi appearance.

In fact that game put an end to a dominant span by the Kowboys, who made it to the state semifinals every year for six seasons, including the school's lone championship in 1998.

This year's undefeated season can be counted as a bit of a surprise because the Kowboys were supposed to again succumb to Lake Gibson and Lakeland.

Last year, Kissimmee Osceola was the "odd team out" from the tough trio of squads in its district, even though the Kowboys battled Lakeland to the end in a 7-3 defeat. In 2005, Lakeland had embarrassed Kissimmee Osceola 56-0 in a nationally televised game.

Lakeland would go on to its third straight state title; the Kowboys were shut out of the postseason.

But two weeks ago, Osceola turned the tables. Coming off a thrilling 34-31 win over Lake Gibson, Osceola ended Lakeland's 53-game winning streak. Trailing 21-7 entering the fourth quarter, the Kowboys scored three touchdowns, the last one with 24 seconds left, to win 25-21.

"They have a really strong defense and a great running back," Kelley said.

Buster Brown is the runner, and quarterback T'Sharvan Bell is not bad, either. Bell threw for 163 yards and three touchdowns against Lake Gibson.

Apart from its two key district wins, Kissimmee Osceola also had impressive victories against a pair of playoff teams, beating 6A's East Ridge 44-3 and District 3A-7 champ Harmony (St. Cloud) 29-13.

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

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