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Dolphin Teams Play In Championships

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By DAREK SHARP, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 28, 2007

PLANT CITY - The Plant City Dolphins youth football program advanced three of its five teams to the Super Bowl of the West Coast Youth Football Conference. The Flyweight, Super Midget and Midget Dolphins teams reached their league's championship contest before settling for second place.

All of the Super Bowl games were Nov. 17 at the Brandon Steelers complex. Plant City was the only program that placed teams in three of the five Super Bowl match-ups.

Plant City's best chance for victory came in the Flyweight age group, where the Dolphins lost to the Wesley Chapel Cowboys 18-12. In both the Super Midget and Midget categories Plant City fell to the East Bay Buccaneers, by scores of 19-0 and 18-7, respectively.

The host Steelers team matched East Bay's two titles with victories in the Junior Varsity and Varsity games. All of the winners are eligible to play at Raymond James Stadium for the Game Day of Champions in December.

There are eight teams in the West Coast Youth Football Conference, with Plant City in the American Division along with Wesley Chapel, Temple Terrace and East Bay. The National Division has three Brandon teams (Steelers, Bears and Broncos) along with Lakeland. Each of the division winners received a first-round bye in the playoffs.

A fourth Dolphins team, the Junior Varsity squad, won its division with a 7-3 record, beating East Bay in a tie-breaking minigame to secure the bye. But the Dolphins lost to Lakeland 25-8 in the semifinals.

The Midget and Flyweight Dolphins teams won their divisions with 9-1 records. In the Midget semifinals the Dolphins won 12-10 against the Brandon Bears and the Flyweights beat the Bears 38-14.

The Super Midget team defeated Wesley Chapel in the first round of the playoffs before topping the Brandon Steelers 7-6 in a game played at Mike Sansone Park. The East Bay team that won the Super Bowl championship went a perfect 12-0. During the regular season, Plant City played East Bay close twice, falling 13-6 on both occasions, once in overtime.

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

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