SEFFNER – Plant City High continued its dominance in flag football in Eastern Hillsborough County Tuesday with a 14-0 win over Durant to win its fifth district championship in the last six years.
After a scoreless first quarter, the struggling Plant City offense got a spark from its defense after an interception from freshman Kylee Burroughs with a minute to play in the half. It was her 10th pick on the year.
“That definitely was a turning point for us,” said PCHS coach Larry Langston. “It slowed down their momentum.”
The Lady Raiders got on the board with a pass from quarterback Avery Brown to Kacie Booth. Stephanie Galloway then reeled in a reception for the extra point, putting Plant City up 7-0.
The only other score of the game came with 4:22 to play, when Brown found Sam Black in the middle of the endzone. Ali Grimmel finished off the PAT attempt.
Kristen Wyckoff came down with an interception on a desperation pass from Durant quarterback Jessica McClernan with just over two minutes to play, sealing the win for the Lady Raiders. Senior Shay Wright was terrific on defense for Plant City, with nine flag pulls and five sacks.
“They just have so much team speed,” said Durant coach Bradley Brunson. “In flag football, the team with more speed will usually win.”
Plant City will now move on to the region playoffs and will host that first round game Saturday at Raider Stadium.
“Hopefully the offense will pick it up a little bit, because it’s obviously going to get tougher from here on,” Langston said.