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Season Ends On Own Turf

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By DAREK SHARP

dsharp@tampatrib.com

Published: November 12, 2008

PLANT CITY - The new turf at Raider Stadium will see its final action of the football season Friday when Plant City hosts Freedom High School.

Kickoff from Raider Stadium is set for 7:30 p.m. It will be just the second home game for Plant City because of problems with the installation of the turf. The grass took longer than expected to take root, forcing the school to play several home games at other locations.

The field will still be used for plenty of games this school year, most immediately for soccer, which is just getting under way with its schedule.

In football, Plant City was eliminated from playoff contention Oct. 31, when both Bloomingdale and Newsome won their games, securing the two playoff spots from District 5A-7.

One of the Raider seniors who will play his last high school game at least has something to smile about. Duran Lowe, the team's defensive leader, last week gave his verbal commitment to play collegiately at Wake Forest University.

Lowe was offered a scholarship by the Atlantic Coast Conference school located in Winston-Salem, N.C., several months ago but was looking at other schools as possible destinations. Lowe, as is the case with other verbal commits, won't be able to officially ink with Wake Forest until national signing day in February.

"I'll get a chance to play early," Lowe said after returning from his campus visit the weekend of Nov. 1.

Lowe has started on defense for three years at Plant City and said the Wake Forest coaches told him he would play at safety for the Demon Deacons. This season Lowe was pressed into running back duties for Plant City and did quite well.

He picked Wake Forest over offers from Florida State, Central Michigan and Troy (Ala.) University.

Ironically, one of Lowe's and the rest of the defense's better games this year was the one that, as it turned out, did the most damage to Plant City's playoff hopes. At the start of district play on Sept. 26, the Raiders defense played well, but the offense was struggling at the time, and Bloomingdale beat Plant City 7-0.

Had the Raiders been able to win that game, they could have still been in the running for a playoff spot heading into their final district game Friday against Brandon.

This week's opponent is also not playoff bound, but Freedom is in one of the toughest leagues around. Class 4A-District 11 is led by Armwood, top 10 team Tampa Bay Tech and traditional playoff qualifier Hillsborough.

If Freedom and Plant City play a game halfway as entertaining as their 2007 matchup, Friday will be well-worth the price of admission. In that game Freedom, which was 1-8 at the time, came back from behind 21-7 to take the lead, only to have the Raiders score on a late 90-yard touchdown pass for a 34-33 win.

Sophomore quarterback Josh Grady leads the Patriots offense, and running back Sherrod Cunningham is outstanding.

Also Friday, Durant concludes its regular season at home against playoff-bound Bloomingdale.

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