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3 Seasons End On The 13th

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By DAREK SHARP

dsharp@tampatrib.com

Published: February 25, 2009

PLANT CITY - Friday the 13th proved to be unlucky for three local teams.

Within a couple of hours on Feb. 13 both the Durant and Plant City boys basketball teams saw their seasons come to an end at the District 6A-8 tournament, and the Cougars lost to Melbourne in the boys soccer Region 6A-3 finals.

The basketball squads needed to win to advance to the state playoffs. Plant City fell to top seed Lakeland while Durant was unable to defeat a Sarasota Riverview team which the Cougars had topped twice during the regular season.

"A lot of people told me coming into the game how hard it is to beat a team three times in a season," Durant head coach Jeff Shotwell said. "Well, it's really hard to beat a team that is probably just a little better than you three times."

Sarasota Riverview was ranked 10th in the state but Durant's two victories had the Cougars seeded No. 2 for the district tourney. In the semifinal played on Friday the 13th, the Rams came up with some clutch shooting despite the rabid Durant home crowd.

The final score was 66-53. It was the last game as a Cougar for the all-time leading scorer in program history, A.J. Garden. Two other seniors who saw regular time will also depart, including Dexter Barge, who had the most rebounds on the team by well more than double anyone else. Senior Denaldi Bradley contributed five points per game.

Durant (21-6) still had one of the better seasons in program history despite not making the playoffs.

Plant City, which made the regional finals last year, had a rebuilding season with the loss of three great seniors. This year the Raiders went 9-15, ending with the 62-46 loss to Lakeland.

Raider head coach Dale Chambers said the 9-15 record was "not what I was expecting heading into the season ... sure we lost plenty from the year before but we did have young talent. Losing our first two games hurt our confidence. We lost in OT to Armwood and in a nail-biter in the last minute to Durant. Winning both or one of those games would have boosted our confidence tremendously."

Most of the Raiders return next year, but two key members will graduate, Josh Thiebe and Kenny Adams.

"Josh returned this year in great shape. He was steady on both ends of the court, and we received great senior leadership from Kenny Adams, who established several career highs throughout the season," Chambers said.

Durant's soccer squad will see a big crush from graduation. Cecil Clarke (21 goals) and Leo Mesquita are two great playmakers and Freeman Bass is a tremendous sweeper; and all could be All-State players when those squads are announced in the upcoming weeks.

Other seniors include Jarrett Williams, who selflessly went from a forward player to a defender during head coach Jamin Hollingsworth's time, and Tommy McCandless.

"It's the first full class I've had the whole time here," Hollingsworth said. "Jarrett, Micah Garcia and Andy Nassar I've had all four years. It's sad obviously that those guys are leaving. I've never coached a game without those guys around."

The cupboard is not bare for next season. Leading scorer Billy Fanning, who finished two goals shy of Hollingsworth's own Durant season record of 28, is a junior. Goaltender Conner Bass and starter David Eisenhauer are sophomores. Freshman Jacob Brumbeloe scored six goals.

Hollingsworth certainly has no regrets over how the year ended, thanks to the opponent Melbourne High being of such high quality.

"The further away we've gotten from that game, the better that Melbourne team gets," he said. "They had two guys who were very, very fast on the outside - and their forwards might have been their weakest point. They have two center mids midfielders who were both physical and very skilled, and good in the air, and hard tacklers. And their back line was the same way, not fancy just very good. They outplayed us."

Durant easily eclipsed the school mark for wins (18) by finishing with a 25-3 mark. Only one other Cougars team had ever reached the regional finals.

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