Saturday, December 3, 2011
Panthers tie game with 38 seconds left, prevail in overtime to advance to Class 8A state semifinals.
It was not a night for the faint-hearted. The Tampa Plant High football pulled out an improbable 28-21 overtime victory over host East Lake on Friday night to capture the Class 8A-Region 2 title. This is how the last 8:43 of regulation went. East Lake scored the go-ahead touchdown and extra point to take a 21-14 lead. The Panthers then drove 50 yards to the Eagles' 40 and went for it on 4th-and-9 with less than four minutes left. The pass was picked off by East Lake sophomore corner Devin Abraham, and all the Eagles have to do is run out the clock to win. Right? Not quite. A holding penalty and defensive three-and-out forced the Eagles to punt it back to Plant. The Panthers opened up in their hurry-up offense with time ticking under two …
Friday, December 2, 2011
The Panthers take their four-game win streak into East Lake for the Class 8A-Region 2 finals.
Losing does not sit well with the Plant High football team (11-1). A Class 5A final loss to St.Thomas Aquinas almost a year ago fueled the furious summer blast through 7-on-7 competitions. A preseason loss to Christopher Columbus fueled a seven-game win streak. Finally, an Oct. 28 loss to Armwood really put a thorn in the Panthers' paw. Since that Armwood loss, the Panthers have gone 4-0, outscoring opponents 207-50 and averaging more than 50 points per game. Their opponents have not been slouches, either. Bloomingdale is not a great team, but Robinson made the regional semifinals in 5A, and Orlando-area Boone and Dr. Phillips high schools had a combined record of 15-8. Next up for Plant: the East Lake Eagles, who the Panthers visit Friday…
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Plant High pounded Dr. Phillips, while Robinson lost to rival Jesuit in football playoff action Friday night.
PLANT 49, ORLANDO DR. PHILLIPS 13: The Plant High football team continues to scorch opponents ever since that 21-0 bruising at the hands of the Armwood Hawks. Since that Oct. 28 loss, the Panthers have outscored opponents 207-50, including Friday night's 49-13 steamrolling of Orlando's Dr. Phillips, as the Orlando Sentinel reports. "That's been a real key for us, getting out in front early," head coach Robert Weiner told Patch. Junior Wes Bullock got two scores in the first quarter to put the Panthers in front 14-0. Dr. Phillips answered early in the second, but a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by senior athlete Antonio Crawford and another touchdown pass from senior quarterback James Few to junior receiver Dereck Mann made it 28-7…
Saturday, November 19, 2011
The Plant Panthers and Robinson Knights entered regional play in their respective classes.
PLANT: The Panthers weathered an early storm from Orlando Boone on Friday night to pull away in the second half for a 54-21 regional quarterfinal playoff win, as the St. Petersburg Times reports. Boone actually outscored the Panthers 14-13 in the first quarter. However, it was off to the races after that. Plant scored three touchdowns in the second quarter, two of them passes to senior receiver Austin Aikens. "Austin Aikens had four touchdown catches in the first half. That really opened it up for us," Panthers head coach Robert Weiner told Patch. The Panthers took a 34-21 lead into halftime, but senior athlete Antonio Crawford broke a 70-yard touchdown run to start the third quarter and Plant started to pull away. "We were able to play …
Friday, November 11, 2011
The Panthers took the seventh straight southside rivalry game in style Thursday night.
It looked like the southside rivalry could be a close one, when the Plant High football team might look past upstart and red-hot Robinson after locking up the district weeks ago and blowing the doors off of Bloomingdale 53-7 just last week. It might be a time when a coach would rest his starters and play a vanilla-style game. None of that happened Thursday night as Plant beat Robinson, 51-9. "We game plan the same way every week, regardles of who we're playing," said Panthers head coach Robert Weiner. "When you play tentative, bad things tend to happen." Bad things started for Robinson right off the bat. The first play from scrimmage saw the snap squirt between junior quarterback Vidal Woodruff's legs and set up a three-and-out. The rest …
Thursday, November 10, 2011
The Plant Panthers host the Robinson Knights on Thursday, Nov. 10, in a battle for south Tampa supremacy.
The Robinson-Plant football rivalry needs no introduction. The two teams are in different classes, different districts but have one thing in common: They battle for south Tampa bragging rights to end every regular season and have for the last decade. The teams will do so again on Thursday night, Nov. 10, as Plant hosts Robinson at 7:30 pm. at Dad's Stadium. The Panthers won last year's game 40-21 and are coming off a 53-7 destruction of district foe Bloomingdale. The Panthers have owned the rivalry in recent history. Plant has outscored Robinson 264-82 since 2005. The Knights won 19-10 back in 2004. However, this is a different year for Robinson, if not a new era. The Knights are riding a six-game win streak and have some key elements in …
