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District Changes Make Raiders, Cougars Happy

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By DAREK SHARP

dnicholson@tampatrib.com

Published: January 28, 2009

PLANT CITY - It seemed silly for longtime rivals Durant and Plant City to not be able to play in the same football district.

Especially when the schools are so close in size, not just distance.

Durant pushed that point, and though it took a while, the Florida High School Athletics Association got the message.

Late last week the association, which had supposedly set its final decisions on new football district assignments, made its third set of changes. There were only a few changes this time, but the big one locally was to move Durant from Class 4A to 5A.

And now the Cougars are placed alongside Plant City in District 5A-6, meaning the rivals again will have more than just bragging rights on the line when they meet up in football.

Newsome, Bloomingdale and Riverview high schools round out the revised 5A-6.

The news came on the heels of what was supposed to have been the association's final correction on Jan. 16, which addressed the complaints of numerous member schools regarding the new football districts.

In the course of a few weeks, Plant City has gone from facing mostly North Tampa teams to going up against two closer Tampa schools to an all-east Hillsborough County district.

The Raiders were originally placed in District 5A-6 along with Gaither, Alonso, Chamberlain and Newsome. After making its case for a change along with several other area schools, Plant City learned that it would be in 5A-7 along with Riverview, Tampa Bay Tech and Freedom.

With the third set of changes, those latter two schools now are in 5A-7 along with Brandon and Wharton. Plant High in South Tampa, which was first put in a district with Riverview and Tampa Bay Tech, now resides in 5A-5 with the three other Tampa schools, Alonso, Gaither and Chamberlain.

"We wanted the change because of travel," said Plant City High Athletic Director Trent Hobbs, citing the expense of getting the charter buses it would need to take the Alonso trip. "Everyone was very supportive of our request."

The easier-to-navigate district schedule is not just from a travel standpoint. Gaither, Alonso and Chamberlain have turned into perennial playoff teams, and now the Raiders don't have to be concerned with them until playoff time.

Durant was hoping to avoid a drop from 6A to 4A, but the association did not originally agree.

Until last Friday's change, Durant was to have played in 4A-9 with annual state title contender Armwood and always-tough Hillsborough.

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