By Matt Mauney | Associate Editor
One of the local Plant City youth football teams are national champions, and they didn’t have to go very far to earn the title.
Defense set the tone for Plant City Raiders 10-year-old unlimited team, which allowed just 12 total points through three games in the bracket-style tournament.
“Our defense has been strong all season and they played especially well through this tournament,” said head coach Fabian Walker.
The Raiders didn’t have an easy road to the championship, having to face some of the top youth teams from around the country. Plant City opened the tournament with a 26-0 shutout over the Newark (N.J.) Bears Dec. 2 and punch their ticket to the championship game two days later with a 12-6 defensive battle against the Oakleaf (Jacksonville) Black Knights.
In the championship game, the Raiders squared off against the Homewood Flossmoor (Chicago, Illi.) Jr. Vikings, who came into the game having not lost for the past two years.
Plant City’s defense limited the Vikings and made several third and fourth-down stops. The Raiders got on the board first when running back Quincy Hipps took it in from 15 yards out, giving his team a 6-0 lead after a failed extra point try.
Hipps would get his second touchdown with 2:17 to play in the fourth quarter on a short run, sealing the win for the Raiders.
Tyriq Thornton and Corey Barnes also picked up touchdown runs in the win.
Homewood’s only score of the game came late in the third quarter. That touchdown was set up by a long run by the Vikings, Plant City’s only defensive lapse of the game.
“We wanted to bring the championship to Plant City,” Walker said after the win. “Our city was hosting this tournament, so we wanted to keep the trophy here where it belongs.”
This was just the second tournament for the Raiders this season, having competed a week earlier in a tournament in Atlanta.