After weeks like this last one, I sometimes find myself wishing I could be in three or four places at once. Durant got a big win over Oak Ridge, and Strawberry Crest’s offense clicked well against Middleton, but I had to resort to checking Twitter for those two.
No big deal, though. The Jefferson/Plant City matchup I covered was a good game and a good indicator of what these two 2013 playoff teams may do in 2014. I made a bunch of notes — some mental, some physical — about the game, and how some of the players looked.
If I remember correctly, the Raiders went undefeated last year when wearing their orange uniforms. It’s no surprise, then, that they went with that look for this game. Those all-black unis are pretty slick, but, as a fairly superstitious person, I’d keep going with the orange ones until the team loses.
I have no idea exactly what set the Jefferson players off early in the game (maybe Tommy Bennett’s sack on the opening play), but those kids were on edge for the entire game. They looked sloppy and unfocused and channeled their aggression in just about the worst ways possible — drawing what seemed like a million penalties and not even trying to hide their contempt of Plant City from the referees. Unless you’re scoring a touchdown every two or three plays, you’re not going to win games against
good teams by playing angry like that.
Speaking of Jefferson’s anger issues, kudos to the Raiders for brushing it off like they did. For the majority of the game, Plant City played about as patiently as possible and let the Dragons hurt themselves with penalties. Cooler heads will prevail.
I’m not 100% sure what to make of Plant City’s passing game yet, even knowing that T.J. Chase is gone. Corey King looked nervous out there, but who can blame him? He’s a sophomore, and his first two games as the Plant City starting quarterback have been against Armwood and Jefferson. Austin Carswell looked more comfortable, but it definitely wasn’t the aerial attack that won this game.
On the other hand, I really like the way the Raiders’ ground game is shaping up. In last week’s Gridiron Report, I named Markese Hargrove as a player to watch, and although he didn’t score any touchdowns, he broke off a handful of great runs and looked difficult to tackle. It was Sterling Day, who saw a lot of action last year, who scored. He looks as though he doesn’t have to shake off a whole lot of rust. This team can pound the rock and probably better than many people think.
The defense did a great job at containing Jefferson’s offense. Sure, it may be easier to do now that Deiondre Porter is gone, but the Dragons didn’t look like a team searching for many answers at quarterback. Had they not hurt themselves with so many penalties, it might have been a different game. Plant City set the tone with that sack on the opening play and locked up the win by blocking a chip shot of a field goal.