Top-ranked Raiders face Cougars in soccer finale

When the soccer season resumes after the holidays, the hype between Plant City and Durant will build to the teams' regular-season finales.

That would be the one where they play each other.

Plant City scored a major victory Dec. 15, taking down East Bay 4-2 on the road, keeping the Raiders undefeated on the season.

While the victory put the Raiders on top of the District 5A-9 chart, their rivals can't be counted out. Durant has recovered from a slow start and heads to the break with a four-game winning streak.

Plant City travels to Durant on Jan. 8 in a game that could determine the regular-season district champ. That would bring the winner a first-round bye and mean only one win (in the district semifinals) is required to reach the state playoffs.

Durant has had to work in six new members of the starting lineup, including all four on the defensive end.

"It's taken legitimately three or four games to get everything figured out back there, but we're there now," Durant head coach Jamin Hollingsworth said. "We tried to get into a preseason tournament so we could take care of that process then, but we were unable to."

Losses on back-to-back nights to Freedom and Gaither dropped Durant's record to 1-2-1. The next game, Durant scored an own goal just 30 seconds into the match, but recovered to tie East Bay 1-1. That was followed by another tie against a quality district opponent, Newsome, a 3-3 decision.

Then Durant rolled off four straight easy victories to head into the break with a 5-2-3 mark.

Hollingsworth thinks the way the defense - freshman Greg Bricker, Ben Salazar, Bryce Feverston and Robby Spath - is playing now, Durant would beat Freedom, and adds that the Cougars outplayed both Gaither and East Bay.

Billy Fanning has been spectacular for Durant, scoring 13 goals through the first nine games.

"He's been the best player on the field every game we've played," Hollingsworth said. "Teams have had to put two guys on him the whole time."

Center midfielder Andres Plata has also been very steady. Unfortunately another standout midfielder, David Eisenhauer, is out for the season after needing surgery on both his spleen and gallbladder.

Eisenhauer had shown signs of fatigue in practice but there was no big "event" that led to the revelation of his ailments. A doctor's checkup revealed swelling that needed to be corrected.

"It was just a gradual thing, and thank God the doctors found out what it was and did the surgery," Hollingsworth said. Eisenhauer is expected to need six months to recover.

Plant City upped its stellar mark to 9-0-1 on the season with the victory over East Bay. The Raiders are 4-0-1 in district play with only the Durant match to go among 5A-9 matchups.

The Cougars are 2-0-2 in district.