As was the case last season, two local teams are set to open 7A-9 district play against one another.
The Plant City Raiders and Strawberry Crest Chargers will square off in Dover Friday, Sept. 16, with Plant City looking to win its second consecutive game and Crest looking to snap its losing streak with a long-awaited win over the Raiders.
THE TOP DOG
Plant City, the reigning district champion, is coming off of a 41-7 win over Brandon that featured several notable performances.
Friday, Sept. 9, Senior quarterback Corey King threw four touchdown passes to four different receivers, sophomore running back Treshaun Ward ran for 268 yards and two touchdowns, sophomore linebacker Ashton Mincey recorded eight tackles and an interception and junior defensive end Austin Eldridge finished with six tackles and two sacks.
The Raider offense is averaging 28.5 points and 251 rushing yards per game, and Ward leads the way with 468 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns. The defense averages 62 tackles and almost two interceptions per game.
The team’s efforts under first-time head coach Robert Paxia have been good enough to get the team into the MaxPreps.com’s top 250 football teams in the nation, coming in at 243, as well as being rated No. 31 in the state of Florida. This week, the Tampa Bay Times ranked the Raiders at No. 8 in their HomeTeam 25.
THE UNDERDOG
Things couldn’t be going more differently for Crest in the first few weeks of its latest rebuilding era.
The Chargers have yet to win a game, with the defense allowing just over 25 points per contest and the offense averaging exactly eight points.
Things have been trending upward for the Chargers’ attack, as the scoring output has improved by two points in each consecutive game, and it was nearly able to steal a win from Middleton in the fourth quarter of the Friday, Sept. 9, away game.
In that game, the Chargers’ run defense was solid: it only allowed 45 rushing yards on the Tigers’ 17 attempts and prevented the ground game from scoring any touchdowns.
Crest did, however, allow junior quarterback Cyrus Wade to complete 70% of his attempts and throw for 160 yards and two touchdowns.
Plant City will be heavily favored going into this week’s matchup, so the Chargers are hoping to catch the Raiders by surprise.
THE OUTLOOK
Stopping Plant City’s offense is a tall task for many teams and something even Armwood had trouble doing.
It will be somewhat easier for Crest to handle this week, as Paxia confirmed Ward will have a lighter workload to keep him fresh. But the passing game, which contains two recently departed Chargers in Eldridge and wideout Tyler Hood, will be dangerous now that it has momentum from the Brandon game.
Crest will have the home-field advantage.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.