Plant Defense Answers Bell, Delivers Fourth State Football Title

ORLANDO — For the fourth time in the past six years, the Plant High Panthers can call themselves state champs.

Plant pulled out a 31-20 win Saturday night against Miramar in the Class 8A state football championship at the Citrus Bowl.

The Panthers came out hitting on every cylinder — or more precisely, the cylinder that is junior running back Wes Bullock. Bullock took four of the first five Panthers offensive plays 55 yards and scored the game's first touchdown. The momentum swing was huge, and it looked like Plant might steamroll Miramar.

However, after forcing a punt, the Panthers special teams muffed a punt at their own 1-yard line. Miramar senior running back D'Vontis Arnold punched it in to even up the score at 7-7. On Plant's next drive, junior quarterback Aaron Banks came in and threw a pick to Miramar senior defensive back Tracy Howard.

The Panther defense bailed them out when senior defensive lineman Michael Dvornik forced a fumble, and junior defensive lineman Eliel Shines scooped it up and returned it to the Patriot 10-yard line. Shines and Dvornik have been dominant on the outside throughout the Panthers' playoff run.

On a 3rd-and-4 after the recovery, senior quarterback James Few rolled to his right, saw a lane, cut it inside and sliced into the end zone to put Plant up 14-7 as the first quarter wound down.

The Patriots marched out to near midfield on their next drive but were halted by the Panther defense. On a 4th-and-5, Miramar went for it and was sacked by a combination of Shines and junior linebacker Mitchell Wright. The Panthers got it back and, thanks to a couple more heady scrambles by Few, Plant was at least in field goal range. Patriot senior linebacker Mark Rucker sacked Few on 2nd-and-13 but Panther senior kicker Grant Van Aman booted it in to bump Plant's lead up to 17-7.

The Panthers' defensive pressure was ramping up. Dvornik and Wright chased senior quarterback Camren Hudge around, and he finally landed in the arms of senior linebacker Tate Rodgers. Hudge proved very elusive however, and continued to sustain Patriot drives.

"That guy was so slippery," said senior linebacker Mike Tate. "We were getting defensive penetration all night but that guy kept slipping away."

The Panthers got it back, though, and embarked on a 10-play, 56-yard drive where Tate punched it in at point blank range.

It was 24-7 at the half.

Miramar came out with a huge play to start the second half when Hudge shed a sack and scrambled for a first down. However, the defensive ends got to him on fourth down, forcing another sack and turnover on downs.

Senior Patriot receiver Malcolm Lewis got hot in the third quarter. He caught six passes for 92 yards and a touchdown. Two of his catches, including the touchdown, were one-handed and came on the same drive.

It was 24-14 Plant with time winding down in the third quarter.

The Miramar defense forced a fumble and recovered on Plant's 15-yard line. Only the Panther defense was there, again, to answer the bell. They allowed a Miramar touchdown catch from sophomore receiver Tanares Robinson but blocked the extra point to keep it 24-20.

"Heck, I was concerned when we were up 24-7," said Plant head coach Robert Weiner. "They are an explosive team; we tried to limit what they were doing."

At this point, Miramar had all the momentum despite being down by four points.

Plant's drive to start the fourth quarter looked like it was going to be the drive that clinched the game.

It wasn't.

The Panthers drove down to the field, all the way to the Patriot 8-yard line, but a handoff to senior athlete Antonio Crawford went awry. Crawford fought down to the 1-yard line but was stripped of the ball, and Miramar recovered, ready to take the lead and the title.

But again, the Panther defense countered.

It nearly sacked Hudge twice, then on the third play, Wright knocked the ball out of the quarterback's hands and a dogpile grew over where the ball landed. Plant's Rodgers came up with it and soon after scored the final touchdown of the game.

"I knew as soon as I saw it hit the ground; that's my ball," said Rodgers.

With a 31-20 lead and six minutes to play, the Panthers set to immolating the game clock. They got it down to 1:30 before they had to give the ball back.

Miramar had neither the time nor the personnel to get what it needed to win this game. Bullock finished with 122 yards on 25 carries for a touchdown, much of his yardage coming on that first drive. Few completed just five of his 16 passes but was poised in the pocket and decisive when he had to tuck and run. The Panthers gained about 300 yards of offense.

It was the defense that won the day for Plant.

"(The defense) been great all year," said Weiner. "It was fitting for them to make a play at the end of the game."

"I could not be more proud of these kids," said defensive coordinator John Few, the quarterback's father. "All those kids are my family. From TBYFL (Tampa Bay Youth Football League) to JV to four years here, nothing can replace the time energy and emotion we've invested in these kids.

"It's unbelievable," Few continued.

What is believable?

The Panthers claim their fourth state title in the last six years.

Unbelievable.

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