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Golf tourney tests Raiders

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By DAREK SHARP

dsharp@tampatrib.com

Published: October 21, 2009

PLANT CITY - With an astonishing number of tight matches under their belts, the members of the Plant City High boys golf team should have been well prepared for the postseason.

Golf was the first of the fall sports to start its journey towards the state tournament, with Plant City and Durant both participating in District 2A-11 meets. The boys tournament was scheduled to be held Tuesday afternoon at Summerfield Golf Course.

First-year Raider boys golf coach Doug Jones felt confident that his team could advance to the regionals, for several reasons.

Plant City has posted respectable scores all year and carried a winning record of 10-6-1 after beating both Brandon and Tampa Catholic in a recent tri-match. The Raiders have gone up against most of the teams in 2A-11 and have either beaten them or come close.

"It's crazy. We had three matches end up in ties," he said. "You're supposed to just leave it as a tie, but we had the option, and so we did it twice, to go to a one-hole playoff."

Most recently the Raiders lost such an overtime against Freedom but they ended up beating Bloomingdale, along with tying Durant on Sept. 17.

That kind of experience in a playoff-type situation could come in handy when only a few strokes decide whether a team gets to keep playing its season. The top three finishing teams from Tuesday's district meet advance to next week's Region 4 event, also at Summerfield.

A few strokes here or there has been the theme, and not the way Jones would like, for the Raiders this season.

"It seems that everyone is struggling from 100 yards on in," he said. "Our scores are good but they would be just a little bit better."

A big plus is that, even were the Raiders to not advance to regionals this year, they haveeveryone coming back for next season. Plant City's top player has been a freshman, Hamilton Brown. He averages a score of around 40 for a par-36 nine holes.

Although Brown doesn't yet have the capacity to shoot a really low round like that of last year's Raider leader Kyle Martin (now at Brevard Community College), he has been extremely consistent, especially for a ninth-grader. In the No. 2 spot, averaging a 42, is Nick Jones, the coach's son. The rest of the top five is Connor Hurst, Richard Elwell and Jack Harrer.

"If they all shoot their average and it extends out over the 18 holes, we're definitely capable of a top-three finish. We have that capability, and the familiarity with Summerfield," Jones said.

Monday was the scheduled day for the girls district tourney at Heritage Isles in Tampa. Durant was expected to easily advance to the regional tournament, which is set for Tuesday at Heritage Springs in New Port Richey.

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