Plant Panthers Make Quarterfinals at BCP Tournament

They came up short.

No one's shedding a tear. 7-on-7 victories mean very little as the summer weeks wind down into fall, when contact and, well, more contact decides the outcome of games. Ask any coach, they will tell you the same thing. 7-on-7 tournaments are what they are. You hope to win, you hope for the competition, the experience. The Panthers came away with all of those, just not the title.

They went 5-1 in group play on Saturday, getting by East Bay, Boca Ciega, Cavalry, Gibbs, Durant and falling to Lakewood, who would go 6-0 on the day. Sunday they came out and beat Gibbs in the first round of elimination play. Boca Ciega came up again in the semifinals but this time gave the Panthers a good run, took them to over time, and won on a short touchdown pass.

Reaching the quarterfinals might seem a dissappointment but those eight games gave the offense and defensive secondary a chance to get their timing down. Many fall starters were absent at Fishhawk over the weekend. Senior Aaron Banks was away at a skill camp, as was projected number one receiver, Tristan Cooper. Starting senior safety Paris Bostick was nowhere to be seen.

Still, it was a valuable tournament getting some of the deeper parts of the 109-player Panther Varsity roster some game-type experience. Senior slot receiver Dereck "Skeezy" Mann was in his element. Mann is the defending tournament MVP and he played like it, hauling in several deep bombs from sophomore quarterback Colby Brown.

"He(Mann) called his own number today and scored a 45-yard touchdown," said Panthers receivers coach TJ Lane. "This was a big moment for him both as a receiver and as a team leader."

With Banks at a camp in Orlando and junior Kyle Ploucher transferring to Tampa Catholic, sophomore Colby Brown got most of the reps at quarterback.

"He's making us catch the ball today, he's throwing us open," said Lane.

The Panthers are no doubt itching to get to USF for next weekend's USF Sling and Shoot Part 2.