Brandon (3-4, 2-1) at Plant City (7-0, 3-0)
The 7A District 8 is clouded. A clear winner is yet to be defined. Under the lights, Brandon and Plant City have the opportunity to wipe away some of that haze to show us who the toast of this district really is.
The Eagles have had a tough road. Their 3-4 record is not an indication of the team’s lack of strength, but more an indication of the team’s strength of schedule
With losses to Armwood, Sickles, Plant and a district loss to Durant – the Eagles have definitely seen some of the top dogs in Tampa Bay.
The catalyst to Brandon’s success is Tyrell Garner. He is the offense for the Eagles. Averaging over seven yards per carry Garner has rushed for over 120 yards in each game this year (he did not play versus Armwood) including 124 on 19 carries against the Plant defense – his “weakest” performance to date. His 13 touchdowns is more than double anyone else on the team. Garner is one of only four backs in the Tampa Bay area with over 1,000 yards and although it seems teams should be able to key and stop him, it just hasn’t happened yet.
Brandon’s problem hasn’t been on offense. The Eagles are averaging 25 points and nearly 300 yards per game. The struggle for John Lima’s squad has been defense. The 25 points per game is negated (and somewhat skewed) by the 31 points allowed per game. Granted those numbers are inflated due to allowing 59 points to Plant and 54 to Armwood, but the lone shutout to Newsome shows potential problems against the highly-powered Raider balanced attack.
Plant City has been dominant on both sides of the ball. Holding opponents to under two-touchdowns per game the Raiders have won by an average margin greater than 28 points.
Bennie Coney leads the offensive charge for Plant City. Completing nearly 60 percent of his passes Coney has thrown for over 1,100 yards and 16 touchdowns (only three interceptions) spreading the ball nicely; five receivers have over 100 yards, three have over 200.
If you focus too much on Coney, Dazmond Patterson will make you pay. This is what makes Plant City so effective. They are not only throwing for 160 yards per game, but they are also rushing for 160 yards per game.
Patterson has over 500 yards rushing on just 56 carries – he leads the team with nine total touchdowns (six rushing, three receiving).
The Raiders skated through its first five games of the season. The past two weeks have been a bit of a wake-up call. Alonso took Plant City to the wire with the Raiders pulling out a highly-debated 9-7 win. East Bay then tripled the amount of points any other team scored on the Raiders, but Plant City eventually came out with a 43-36.
The 7A-8 district may look like a mess now, but one of two things will happen once the final whistle blows.
If Brandon wins – everything becomes even more complicated.
Durant (2-1) hosts East Bay (1-2). With a win from Durant and Brandon we would see three teams (Durant, Brandon, Plant City) tied at 3-1 in the district.
But, if the Raiders take care of their business a 4-0 district record would clinch a postseason berth and likely etch their name to a district title.