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Playing 2 Kinds Of Football

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By DAREK SHARP, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 14, 2007

PLANT CITY - Plant City High boys soccer coach KC Van der Luit really wants the Raider football team to do well; really, he does.

Just don't look for any tears to be shed if Plant City happens to lose to Kissimmee Osceola on Friday.

Two of the best players on the soccer team are tied up with football.
Johnathan Dupree plays an important role as both the Raiders' kicker and as a member of the secondary, and Matt Kirkland plays fullback, which also is a position in soccer.

Or football, Van der Luit's style.

"I give those two guys a hard time. I tell them they need to be playing real football, not American football," Van der Luit said, adding that he truly is rooting for the Raiders to win Friday.

Dupree and Kirkland were able to play in one game of the Raiders' three in last week's Wharton Invitational. But the longer Plant City progresses in the football playoffs, the more soccer games the duo will miss.

Dupree's scoring is not easily attained elsewhere on the soccer team.

"He's hard to replace for us up front," Van der Luit said.

The Raiders posted a 6-0 win over Lennard, with Brian Fekete and Stevie Lamas doing all the scoring. The regular season was scheduled to start Tuesday, when the Raiders hosted Sarasota in a district game.

Two of the top players on last year's Plant City High soccer team are not on this year's squad. Colin Gill graduated, and Van der Luit's son John, a sophomore, signed with a professional team in Rotterdam, Netherlands, three months ago. The Van der Luits are from Holland.

Plant City next hosts Riverview on Thursday. The girls game starts at 6 p.m., with the boys to follow at 8.

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

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