By Savannah Kummelman | Raider Review
Yet another victory for the Plant City High football team.
The Raiders set the tone against the Lennard Longhorns with a touchdown right at the beginning of the game. Markese Hargrove, who ran for 226 yards, scored from the one-yard line. Kwest Fluitt came up with a big sack on Longhorns quarterback Devin Black, and the Plant City defense did all it could to keep Lennard off of the scoreboard in the first quarter.
Lennard did get on the scoreboard early in the second quarter, when running back Jahryn Bailey scored the first of his two touchdowns from the goal line. Raiders linebacker Steven Ogletree got the home team in good field position with a kickoff return, and the Raiders came back with a big bang – quarterback Corey King threw to Antoine Thompson, who broke a tackle and scored a 40-yard touchdown.
The halftime score of 14-7 must have made the Raiders pumped to put a hurting on the Longhorns.
Nine minutes into the third quarter, King threw a touchdown pass from the red zone to a wide-open T.J Chase, making it a 21-7 lead. The Plant City defense once again held the Longhorns scoreless for a quarter, and nearly took a 28-7 lead. But a Treshaun Ward touchdown was called back by a penalty, and King threw an interception on the next play.
The Raiders’ offense started the fourth quarter with another pick, which led to Bailey’s second touchdown, but the Plant City boys were still fired up. With the score at 21-14, PCHS drove to the Lennard goal line and King scored on a QB sneak play to make it 28-14.
Lennard was prevented from doing anything until getting the ball back with 44 seconds left to play, when the Longhorns drove to the PCHS end zone and scored on a jump pass as time ran out.
In other area action, Strawberry Crest was steamrolled by Bloomingdale, 38-2.
Sports Editor Justin Kline contributed information and photos to this report.