Both Plant Teams Excell at USF Sling and Shoot

The Panthers are always disappointed when they don’t win. But in many ways the USF Sling and Shoot tournament was a victory for both Plant squads.

The Plant 1 team went pretty easily through group play on only losing two of eight, while maintaining a consistent rotation of quarterbacks. If you were betting on who will win the starting job, good luck. The race between senior James Few and Aaron Banks is still mostly between the two of them. However, Kyle Groh played in two games.

Some new faces emerged that look to be promising – not just coming off the bench but potentially cracking the starting lineup. Senior transfer Keenan Stalls looked very sharp ranging from nickel corner to outside linebacker.

“He’s going to play a lot, if he doesn’t start,” said defensive coordinator John Few.

Sophomore Austin “Baby” Roberts looked very good lining up at tight end and slot receiver. He is a big target and should also factor into the offense this year.

After blasting through group play, Plant wore out an under-staffed squad, coach Weiner mercilessly running a no-huddle offense on the Patriots. They got through Blake on three interceptions by Senior Paris Bostick, but fell again to Armwood 14-6 in the quarterfinals.

Coach Weiner was in his element, calling plays from basically the huddle. Coaches are allowed to be in the offensive huddle at USF Sling and Shoot.

“Green, green, green, trips left, trips left,” he’d call as if he were under center himself.

“I feel like I’m in the huddle even when I’m on the sideline,” said Weiner.

The usual suspects were great. Senior Austin Aikens caught most everything thrown his way and junior Wesley Bullock caught several touchdowns streaking up the middle of the field.

Armwood seemed to have Plant’s number at the tournament. They beat the Panthers 1 team twice, although they were both very close games.

The game of the tournament was actually between the Plant 2 team and Armwood. Plant 2 dispatched Spoto in round one of eliminations and took Armwood to the sixth overtime period before Armwood could finally convert.

Coach Weiner rotated Groh, Trey Holtz, Kyle Ploucher, and JT Faircloth at quarterback and they did extremely well considering they were basically a JV team.

Justin Watts must have caught 13 passes in the game against Spoto. Watts is coming back off a pretty bad ACL injury, but looked crisp in his routes and strong in his running. The Panthers hope to use him as their third running back.

“Hopefully he’ll give us some meaningful stuff this year,” said Few.

Even the linemen at the big man’s challenge had a good time.

“My favorite thing was the one-on-ones, although they were all challenging,” said senior Patrick Wright. “It really helped me work on my technique, getting off the ball and staying low.”

“My favorite was the one-on-ones too,” said senior Doug Bona. “It really helped me with my footwork and speed.”

The whole team got a good test of their mettle.

“This was a real proving ground for the kids,” said Weiner. “The bottom line is it’s great for them to compete like this.”

“You get to see who’s scared and who’s ready to go.”