The Raiders and Bulls are the last undefeated teams left in district play.
Friday night’s game at Plant City High School comes with some of the highest stakes of the regular season for everyone involved.
After last week’s action, PCHS and Bloomingdale are the only 7A-9 teams that have yet to lose a game in district play. The Raiders are riding high after their 35-6 win at Durant and Bloomingdale scored a 33-24 upset win over Tampa Bay Tech. That means this week’s game would have district championship implications of its own, specifically for the visiting team.
Most of the pressure is going to be on Bloomingdale. The Bulls could effectively lock up the district championship with a win over the Raiders on Friday night, guaranteeing them a return to the playoffs with a high seed’s hosting privileges. They certainly have momentum after last Friday’s win, in which Bloomingdale took control with an 18-point second quarter and held strong despite allowing 287 rushing yards and two scores.
The Raiders’ offensive play style is much closer to last year’s district championship Titans team than this year’s Treshaun Ward-heavy offense. Though the Bulls have only allowed 100 or more passing yards twice in 2018, Plant City will be Bloomingdale’s first major test against a pass-friendly attack.
While Durant held quarterback Braxton Plunk to 172 passing yards on 16 completions last week, Plant City’s senior star also threw three touchdown passes and no interceptions. Though playmaker Mario Williams was held to 59 receiving yards, the speedy sophomore also scored for the first time since Sept. 21 with two touchdown catches.
The Raiders combined for 218 rushing yards on 35 touches in last week’s matchup, and lead back Zamir’ Knighten was responsible for 22 of the carries and 109 of the yards. Plunk scored the team’s only rushing touchdown of the game on a goal-line plunge. The Raiders generally call around 16 to 17 running plays per game, but the team wanted to establish a physical presence last week just like it did in the Aug. 31 game at Hillsborough (39 carries, 193 yards, two touchdowns total). The Bulls have been fairly good at stopping the run in 2018 but have allowed players such as Ward and East Bay’s Joaquin Isidro to eclipse 100 yards.
The Bulls will also have to be aware of Kobe Panier’s location at all times. Panier has returned a turnover for a touchdown in two of the Raiders’ last three games, grabbing a 65-yard pick six against Crest and returning a fumble 50 yards for a score last week.
Bloomingdale is a well-oiled machine that will capitalize on mistakes. Plant City’s greatest weakness in 2018 has been itself: the Raiders have had trouble staying out of trouble with the referees this season and they can’t afford to repeat last week’s penalties against Bloomingdale if they want to win the game and get a real crack at the district crown.
