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Raiders Make Postseason Play

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By DAREK SHARP, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 16, 2008

PLANT CITY - It was one of those moments when the Plant City High Raiders could have gone either way: into the history books, or on to another disappointment.

Senior Channing Woodall decided he was going to make sure it was the former.

Last week, Plant City earned a trip to the postseason for the first time in 15 years, and though it was a team effort Woodall gets the bulk of the credit for what he did in the berth-clinching victory. Woodall took things over Feb. 8, paving the way to a 45-41 defeat of Sarasota Riverview in the 6A-8 semifinals.

The Raiders were scheduled to meet Sickles on Thursday in the region quarterfinals. Plant City had to travel because it lost in the district title game, 68-64 to Lakeland.

Woodall did his best to help pull out that contest, scoring 27 points.

"That was the best game I've seen him play," first-year Raider head coach Dale Chambers said. "I don't know if Lakeland had a match-up for him. I asked quite a bit of him and he kept us in that game."

In the district final, Plant City trailed by 11 points but rallied to tie it late. Lakeland broke the tie on a pair of free throws with 11 seconds remaining.

Woodall's biggest clutch effort, however, came Feb. 7. Plant City held a slim lead over Sarasota Riverview much of the way, but could never create a cushion until a series of great plays by Woodall.

The first one showed some serious poise. The Rams had just cut the lead to 38-35 and had missed a three-point attempt that would have tied the game. On Plant City's next possession Sarasota Riverview applied strong pressure, forcing a wild pass toward mid-court. Woodall retrieved it, but was losing his balance and falling backward.

But as he was going down, realizing that he was about to commit a backcourt violation, Woodall called for a timeout.

"It just came to me right there," Woodall said. "Coach has really been intent on teaching us to value every possession. That was one I definitely knew was valuable."

Woodall was just getting warmed up. After the timeout he hit a high bank shot for a 40-35 lead with 3:58 remaining, and after two missed Rams free throws Woodall put on a fake to lose a defender, laying the ball in for 42-35.

Sarasota Riverview responded with back-to-back three pointers in the next half minute and the score was 42-41 with 2:30 to play. But Woodall made a steal, followed by two clutch free throws from Denzel Drone.

After Sarasota Riverview shot a three-pointer to tie the score, Woodall made the free throw to lock up the win.

Chambers was hoping that Woodall and the other senior starters, Rod Henderson and Steve Hardnett, would lead the way through the playoffs. The trio leads scoring for the Raiders, with Woodall averaging more than 16 points per game, followed by Henderson and Hardnett at about 11 apiece. Plant City was 14-9 entering Thursday's game at Sickles.

"Even though the seniors lack big-game experience from not being in the playoffs before, we did play some tough games late in the season," Chambers said. "We have to play at a high level. ... Teams that we'll be playing have been in these situations. The big thing is to keep our poise and our composure. Do the ordinary things very well, not try to do something extraordinary."

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

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