Durant moved to 7-1 on the season and claimed the Redman Cup for the first time since 2017 with their 29-6 victory over Plant City on Friday night.
“I think I lost to them four times when I was [at Durant],” head coach Claybo Varnum said. “It was always close but they’ve always been the monkey on our back. Good athletes, great in space and we’ve struggled with that in the past. But we felt great all week. We had a great week of practice, great preparation, our kids were learning a lot and very focused. We installed some things, obviously, for Plant City that we wanted to do and we didn’t get to do all of it but our kids executed at a high level tonight and you can’t ask for much more than that.”
Plant City fielded the opening kickoff and started their first drive at the 26 yard line. The Raiders were quickly moved into Durant territory on a big run from running back Reggie Bush Jr. before being forced to punt and downing the Cougars inside their own 10-yard line.
Durant moved past midfield as well on the back of running back Calub Connell, ultimately breaking off a long run of his own to the Plant City 29 yard line, but the Cougars would turn the ball over on downs just four plays later. Plant City punted again and on Durant’s second drive they opened the scoring. Backed up to third-and-25 at their own 35 yard line, quarterback Marcus Miguele dropped back and fired a deep pass down the left sideline for receiver Jeremiah Gines, connecting on the big play down to the Raiders’ 17. A few plays later Miguele took the quarterback keeper up the middle and found pay dirt.
The extra point was no good but Durant took a 6-0 lead, one that they wouldn’t relinquish.
Durant started their next drive around midfield and moved the ball inside the red zone but settled for a field goal, taking a 9-0 lead in the second quarter. The ensuing kickoff pinned Plant City back inside their own 10 yard line and later punting from their own end zone, giving Durant plus starting field position once again.
The Cougars wouldn’t settle for three again, moving up the the 20 yard line before Miguele found Connell out of the backfield for another touchdown and a 16-0 lead.
Plant City’s offense was once again stonewalled, punting from deep inside their own territory and giving Durant one more chance to add on to their lead before the half. With less than two minutes remaining in the second quarter, the Cougars took the ball from their own 45 and raced down the field before Connell found the end zone for the second time on the night, a tough carry up the middle from inside the 15, extending their lead to 22-0 as they went into the half.
Connell was a junior varsity quarterback last year, stepping up and taking over the starting running back spot as projected starter Alex Daley was forced to miss time early in the year with an injury. But all season it’s been Connell proving himself as the backbone of Durant’s offense, now totaling 678 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on 101 carries while also adding 51 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown on three catches. His 729 all purpose yards lead the team and his mark of 91.1 all purpose yards per game trails only Daley at 94.5.
Durant tacked on one more touchdown in the second half as their defense remained staunch, led by a defensive front that continuously pressured Plant City quarterback Clint Danzey and kept the Raiders’ talented backfield in check.
“I’ve coached defense here for 10 years and I always seem to doubt our defense for some reason, but tonight they showed up,” Varnum said. “ Jacob Reed, Austin Bovee, Zaevion Jordan had a coming out party, it’s phenomenal to see him playing well at safety, Leo Tabakovic. They’re hard-nosed kids. They fight around, they scrap.”
Inside linebackers Reed and Bovee led the way in total tackles for Durant, combining for 15, while Leo Tabakovic had two tackles for loss, bringing him to a team-best 14 on the season with eight sacks. In the secondary, Durant’s freshman defensive back Jayden Cornelius stole the show late, hauling in his fourth and fifth interceptions of the season in the second half.
Plant City found the end zone on a touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Jaylen Gadson, putting them on the board in the game’s final minutes, but their six points were far from enough to overcome a strong performance on both sides of the ball from Durant.
“This win is huge because we’ve got to change the narrative,” Varnum said. “We’re not the punching bag… They just treat us like little brother and they’ve got to understand, we ain’t little brother. We’re right here, we’re right in it with you and when you come down here to play us from now on, it’s going to be tough.”
In the 8A District 10 standings, Newsome jumped to the top spot with a 2-0 record within the district that includes a 17-7 win over Durant. Durant will move up to second at 2-1 and Plant City will fall to at least third at 1-1. Plant City will look to get back in the win column this week as they host Plant, while Durant tries to keep the wins rolling as they host Middleton.