This is it: the Superbowl, the big one, the granddaddy of ‘em all. And the Plant City Dolphins have more squads in it than anybody.
The Saturday, Nov. 21, matches won’t be easy. But Plant City fans can rest assured that these Dolphins are no pushovers. There’s a big chance that all four could walk away with wins — an outcome that late president Buddy Bennett would have loved to see.
MIGHTY MITES
The youngest squad cruised to a 31-0 shutout win over the Bucs during playoffs Saturday, Nov. 7. While Plant City was a No. 1 seed in the tournament, thanks to a 10-0 record, East Bay was No. 6 in the bracket and, perhaps, not expected to get as far as it did.
Plant City will face the No. 2 Brandon Lions, which picked up a 24-12 win over the Lakeland Eagles on Nov. 7 to advance. Brandon had a 9-1 record throughout the regular season, losing only to Plant City in Week 6. The score to that game was 33-20, and it’s highly likely that the Superbowl rematch could also become a shootout.
MIDGETS
The only other No. 1 seed of the bunch, the Midgets team locked in its Superbowl appearance with a 33-18 win over Pinecrest.
Plant City finished with a 9-1 record on the season, tying only with East Bay. Coincidentally, the Dolphins and Bucs will square off in the Superbowl: East Bay got in the game with a 13-7 win over a tough Lakeland Gators squad, the No. 3 seed.
The Bucs will have a chip on their shoulders, as their only loss of the season was a 12-6 defeat at the hands of — who else — the Dolphins. Add that to the fact that the Bucs and Dolphins teams always seem to play each other well, and Superbowl attendees could be treated to one of the best games of the day.
JUNIOR VARSITY
This is where things get really interesting.
The JV team was the lowest-seeded of the Plant City teams, clocking in at No. 3 with an 8-2 record. To get to this point, it had to overcome the No. 2 Lions — which it did in a grinder of a game, an 8-6 win.
Now, they’re set to face the No. 1 Pinecrest Pilots. Pinecrest posted a perfect 10-0 record this season and advanced to the Superbowl with a 35-0 win over the No. 4 Bucs. In the regular season, Pinecrest blew Plant City out of the water with a 32-0 win at home.
Do these Dolphins have it in themselves to go out there and get the last laugh?
VARSITY
Last, but not least, there’s varsity.
The No. 2 Dolphins beat the Bucs, 22-14, to get to this Superbowl. The Dolphins stood alone in second place with a 9-1 record, only trailing the 10-0 Pilots — the No. 1 seed.
But Pinecrest struggled in its second-round playoff game, eking out a 32-30 win over the No. 5 Lakeland Eagles to get their shot. On Sept. 26, they had to squeak their way into a 14-13 home win over Plant City.
If one thing is for certain, it’s that the Dolphins would rather not keep this one close. Pinecrest has shown its ability to win the tight games, but will they be able to pull out another win over Plant City if the Dolphins can catch them slipping early on?
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
CLOSE CALL
The only team to not make the cut was the Pee Wee team, which the Plant City Times & Observer had recently featured.
For the most part, going against the Pee Wees’ single-wing offense was like trying to stop a buzzsaw. They outscored their opponents by double digits in nearly every game they played and, for a while, looked pretty close to unbeatable.
That is, until they ran into a motivated East Bay Bucs team in the second round of the playoffs Saturday, Nov. 7. Despite having the home field advantage, the Dolphins couldn’t overcome their early turnovers and mistakes, and ended up taking a 15-14 heartbreaker of a loss.