Oddly enough, a windstorm helped in holding off the Hurricanes Friday at the Florida Citrus Bowl.
The air circulating on the Tampa Plant sideline, meanwhile, was a sigh of relief.
For the third time in four years, Plant pounced on a state championship with a 21-14 win against Manatee's Hurricanes. This time, though, victory had a different flavor.
The Panthers held off a valiant Manatee comeback effort to claim their first Class 5A state title. The Panthers won Class 4A state titles in 2006 and 2008.
The game’s outcome hinged partly on Plant’s last defensive stand. It also had a lot to do with the weather. Manatee quarterback Brion Carnes came up empty on four heaves into a swift crosswind in the final two minutes of the game.
It wasn't just the wind, though, that stopped Carnes. All four times, he also had to dip, dodge and scramble to avoid Plant’s heavy rush.
On Carnes’ final pass attempt, the wind seemed to cut down the ball’s path. That was enough to allow a Plant defender to deflect it. Still, the ball skipped past the defender toward Hurricanes' wide receiver Ace Sanders, who was off-balance but had nothing between himself and the end zone except lush green grass. The ball, though, trickled off Sanders' outstretched hands and hit the turf.
Manatee's Ace Sanders (1) goes high over Deandre Quenn.
Photo by Gray Quetti
With just 57 seconds remaining, the Panthers took possession and ran out the game clock. Plant, which moved up to 5A last spring during the FHSAA’s redistricting effort, dominated the first half, but the Panthers’ state title hopes were in limbo after Manatee stormed back from a 21-0 halftime deficit with a pair of third-quarter touchdowns.
Manatee got its first score when Carnes connected over the middle with Quenton Bundrage for a 34-yard touchdown.
The score came on fourth-and-6 with 3:42 to play in the third quarter. After the Hurricanes’ defense stopped Plant, Carnes struck again. This time, he found Mike Blakely on third-and-11. Blakely caught the pass over the middle, broke a tackle and rambled for an 87-yard gain to set up his own 2-yard touchdown run with 37 seconds to play in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Manatee drove to Plant’s 25-yard line. The drive, though, stalled when Carnes came up two inches short of the first down following a fourth down sneak up the gut. Plant followed with its own drive, but James Wilder Jr. came up short himself on fourth-and-2 at Manatee’s 22-yard line. That gave Manatee one last shot with 1:27 to play, but the Hurricanes started 78 yards from the goal-line.
In the first quarter, Plant sprinted to a 7-0 lead on the Panthers’ first possession. Quarterback Phillip Ely capped the 11-play, 80-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown pass to slot receiver Eric Dungy, who caught the ball on the right side, broke a tackle at the 8-yard line and trotted into the end zone.
The toss came on a third-and-10 play.
Plant's Eric Dungy races for a touchdown.
Photo by Gray Quetti
Early in the second quarter, Plant stretched the lead to 14-0. The 59-yard drive featured a 30-yard run by Wilder. Panthers’ running back DeAndre Queen scored on a 2-yard run two plays later.
Midway through the second quarter, Manatee crossed midfield when Carnes connected with Sanders for a big gain. The drive, though, stalled at Plant’s 28-yard line, and Wilder, Plant’s leading tackler this season, sacked Carnes for an 11-yard loss that forced the Hurricanes to punt.
It was the only time Wilder and company put on the presure. Plant sacked Carnes five times and intercepted him once. Wilder had two of the sacks. He credited the success to the Panthers’ pass coverage.
“All of our sacks comes because of our corners and safeties,” Wilder said. “If they didn’t have such good coverage, we wouldn’t get the sacks.”
The difference, essentially, was Plant’s third score,w hich came late in the first half. The Panthers came up with a pair of big players, and Wilder was involved in both.
On third-and-18 at Plant’s own 37-yard line, Ely threw to Wilder, who juked and jived his way to a 20-yard gain for the first down.
Three plays later, Wilder ran up the middle to the 25-yard line, where he spun out of a tackle, cut left and sprinted into the end zone. The 41-yard touchdown put Wilder over the 100-yard mark and gave Plant a 21-0 lead, which the Panthers carried into halftime.
“We pretty much had it the way we wanted it in the first half,” Plant Coach Robert Weiner said. The Manatee defense, though, made some key adjustments, he added. Weiner said it didn’t help that the Plant defense spent much of an 8-minute stretch on the field thanks to a Manatee onside kick recovered by the Hurricanes and the Panthers’ pair of three-and-out series in the third quarter.
Weiner said he told the players after the third quarter that Manatee’s comeback was not the great tragedy it seemed to be.
Manatee's Ace Sanders (1).
Photo by Gray Quetti
“After all, we were still up,” said Weiner. “That’s what I told them. I said, ‘How much money would you pay to go into the fourth quarter of the state championship game up 7?’”
Wilder said Weiner also reemphasized the team’s motto.
“He said, ‘Make sure you play with love.’ And that’s what we did,” said Wilder, who deflected a Carnes’ pass that was intercepted by a teammate.
Wilder should know something about love. Along with kissing his state championship medal, Wilder talked about his love for the game. The junior said he prefers offense. Wilder said that doesn’t mean he dislikes contact.
“Actually, I love to hit,” Wilder said. “When I’m at running back, I love to it. I initiate the contact.”
What Wilder didn’t enjoy were the leg cramps that kept him out of several plays in the third quarter. After receiving some treatment, he returned in the fourth quarter.
“I was still cramping up in the middle of the field, but I just kept my legs pumping,” said Wilder, who is the son of former NFL running back James Wilder.
Wilder finished with 142 rushing yards on 20 carries. For Manatee, Carnes was the bulk of the offense. He threw for 264 yards and a touchdown while completing 50 percent of his 32 attempts. Carnes also ran for 26 yards on 11 carries. Blakely caught five passes for 119 yards and added 69 rushing yards on 17 carries.
At the end of the night, though, Carnes was not in a talking mood.
“I had to make a play, and I just didn’t make it,” said Carnes. He stopped short of blaming the wind, but he said it certainly played a factor in his passing accuracy.
“The wind hit us really hard. It was causing my ball to wobble a lot,” Carnes said.
Let the celebrations beging for Plant.
Photo by Gray Quetti
Pensacola 28, Belen Jesuit 7
The Panhandle scored another win Friday at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando. Pensacola defeated Belen Jesuit 28-7 to win the Class 3A state football title.
The Tigers’ win is the team’s first state championship since 1959, when the title was awarded by committee vote rather than through a playoff format. The Tigers notched the win with an offense that churned up 318 yards on the ground and a defense that turned Belen away three of the four times the Wolverines made their way into the red zone.
Running back Rakim Rivers scored a pair of first-half touchdowns to give Pensacola a 14-7 halftime lead, and teammate Prince Ashanti rushed for 123 yards on 15 carries and a fourth-quarter touchdown that put the game out of reach for Belen (11-4).
Pensacola, which struggled to score in several games this season, had no such difficulty against Belen Jesuit. The Tigers averaged 6.9 yards per rush and scored all four of their touchdowns on the ground. In fact, Pensacola (14-1) only attempted two passes and completed none.
The Tigers, who commited no turnovers, scored first at the 7:53 mark of the opening quarter when Rivers ran it in from 8 yards out to cap a six-play, 64-yard drive. Belen Jesuit drove into Pensacola territory on its ensuing possession, but the Tigers regained possession on downs at its own 29-yard line. That started an eight-play, 71-yard drive that ended with Rivers’ 2-yard touchdown run.
Trailing 14-0, Belen again marched across midfield. This time, the drive ended with a missed field goal at Pensacola’s 19-yard line. Jesuit, though, scored its first championship game touchdown when Imani Davis scored on a 3-yard run to cut the margin to 14-7 at the half. That drive commenced with a blocked punt.
Any hope Belen Jesuit might have carried into the locker room quickly went up in smoke in the third quarter. Pensacola started the second half with a 10-play, 92-yard drive that that consumed nearly 6:58. Jimmy Threat scored on a 22-yard run to make it 21-7.
In the fourth quarter, Belen Jesuit turned to the pass, but the Tigers were prepared, particularly with Edward Franca subbing for Belen starting quarterback Nick Platt. Pensacola intercepted Franca twice. The second time, the Tigers’ offense marched onto the field and finished off the Wolverines’ with a seven-play drive capped by Ashanti’s 3-yard touchdown run.
In all, Belen Jesuit’s offense had possession five times across midfield, but the Wolverines turned it over on downs twice, missed a field goal and simply ran out of time when the clock ran out with Belen parked at Pensacola’s 17-yard line.
For Belen Jesuit, Platt was 9-for-13 passing for 137 yards. Pensacola’s Kemmrick Williams made 12 tackles, including two for a loss, and Ashley Gadson and Latorris Newberry each had an interception.
