The Strawberry Crest defense will have one of its toughest matchups of the season on Friday night when the team hosts the undefeated Plant City Raiders.
Crest has not yet faced an offensive player quite like the Raiders’ Mario Williams. Though Plant City’s offense has been strong as a whole, with quarterback Braxton Plunk leading a unit that scores nearly 28 points per game, Williams has become the team’s most reliable scoring threat.
The sophomore has nine of the team’s 12 total touchdown catches to his name and has also flashed scoring ability on kickoff and punt returns. Williams has found the end zone at least once in four of the team’s five games and was most electric in Plant City’s 56-28 win over Lennard, in which he scored five touchdowns and finished with 301 all-purpose yards. He’s essentially a threat to score any time he touches the ball.
Crest’s defense has been much better in 2018 than in 2017, and the Chargers’ secondary has been particularly good this year. None of the team’s opponents have been able to crack 50 yards passing thus far and it took four weeks for anyone to score a touchdown on Crest through the air. Obviously, Cody Newman and the defensive backs will have their hands full keeping Williams in check, but they’ll also have to account for Plant City receptions leader Chris Wilson and pay attention to what running back Zamir’ Knighten can do in the passing game.