Justin Kline was on the sideline for Plant City's Friday, Nov. 4, game at Freedom.
Although the final score was 22-6, Plant City's season closer didn't feel like a typical 22-6 game.
For starters, I think that was the quietest high school football game I've ever been to in person. That's partly because Plant City didn't bring its band, but also because the home side wasn't totally into it. It made the space surrounding the field feel like it was much bigger than it really is, as if you would have to walk about a half mile to get from the bleachers to the sideline.
And I totally understand why it was so quiet, since both teams got off to a slow start. I'm not trying to say that everyone wearing pads checked out before the game began, but nobody was really "on" in the scoreless first quarter. For the most part, no one's offense, defense or special teams could really get going.
Things did get better for the Raiders, who scored in each of the next three quarters. Corey King did throw two long touchdown passes, one to his brother, Xavier, and one to Tydre Ward, and Treshaun Ward shook off the rust in the third quarter with a 10-yard touchdown run of his own.
But two of the touchdowns were followed up by missed PAT attempts, and the Plant City offense committed several turnovers – including intercepted passes on each of the team's last two drives.
Freedom was only able to score in the fourth quarter, on a one-yard run, but the Raiders shut down the Patriots' two-point conversion attempt. That score was made possible thanks to a long drive, aided by penalties, that ate up the clock toward the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth. And it came on fourth down, at the one-yard line, as the Raiders looked like they were ready to make a goal-line stand.
Defensively, the Raiders showed little trouble pressuring the quarterback – the unit recorded six sacks for a total loss of 27 yards – and creating turnovers. Cody Cribbs and Ashton Mincey each recovered one fumble, and Cribbs also snagged two interceptions. I thought that the Plant City stop unit was the most consistently good group that anyone put on the field that night, and Raider fans should be pleased to know that the 2017 graduations aren't going to hit their team's defense nearly as hard as it will hit others.
When I was at the Raiders' Monday, Oct. 31, practice to get some intel on the game, Christian Austin told me that the team wanted to show people that, if I may paraphrase him, it deserved a playoff spot. While this one was definitely a step up from Plant City's previous game, I wouldn't say that it matched the energy or focus the Raiders showed at any point when there were playoff hopes – in other words, before the end of the Redman Cup game.
Based on one game, I wouldn't call what I saw that night a "playoff effort." But I know what the Raiders are capable of when they're focused, and I know how close they came to making the playoffs, so I would say a return to the postseason isn't far off for head coach Robert Paxia and what's left of this group after graduation.
