Hillsborough County playoff preview: Round 3

Tonight's games

Regional Finals

Class 8A-Region 2

Plant (11-1) at East Lake (9-3)

Where: East Lake Stadium, Tarpon Springs

Winner Advances To: State semifinals to play the winner of the Neptune Beach Fletcher at Orlando Timber Creek region final.

Outlook: It's hard to imagine there was a quarterback battle at the beginning of the season with the way senior James Few has been performing this postseason. Few has thrown 10 touchdown passes, including his team-record matching performance of six in the opening round against Orlando Boone.

In last week's 49-13 victory against Orlando Dr. Phillips, Few threw four touchdowns and had a QB rating of 149. With weapons such as senior wide receiver Austin Aikens (581 receiving yards, 11 touchdowns) and junior running back Wesley Bullock (1,288 offensive yards, 12 touchdowns), Few likes to spread the ball around.

East Lake airs it out often with quarterback Pete DiNovo (2,225 yards, 18 touchdowns, seven interceptions). The Eagles face a tough matchup with the Panthers secondary led by cornerbacks Keenan Stalls (six interceptions, 12 passes defensed) and Antonio Crawford (three interceptions, 19 passes defensed). Panthers leading tackler Mike Tate (162) makes running room tough to find for opponents and also applies a lot of pressure on quarterbacks (11 sacks). He tied the single-season team tackles for a loss record last week when he collected two for a total of 60.

Katherine Smith

Class 7A-Region 2

Gaither (9-3) at Lakeland (12-0)

Where: Bryant Stadium, Lakeland

Winner Advances To: State semifinals to play the winner of the Clermont East Ridge at Jacksonville First Coast region final.

Outlook: The Cowboys are in the region finals for the first time in 11 years, but Gaither first-year coach Jason Stokes has his team ready its challenge against a six-time state and two-time national champion football program. The Lakeland mystique took a hit the past two seasons when Plant knocked it out of the playoffs and now it's Gaither shot to be the Hillsborough County team that ends Lakeland's season for the third straight year.

The Cowboys, led by a stingy defense with linebackers Josh Scarberry and Logan Marshall and lineman Nick Sampson and an offense led by quarterback Alex McGough and all-around athlete Shug Oyegunle, have made an improbable run to the Class 7A-Region 2 final with back-to-back fourth-quarter comeback victories against Durant and Tampa Bay Tech.

"We're going into this saying this is the 2011 Dreadnaughts versus the 2011 Cowboys,'' Stokes said. "All the stuff they have is just intimidation and doesn't mean anything. Those kids are football players just like we are. Because we don't see them every year and we're not around them, we don't see that Lakeland aura that surrounds the program.''

The Dreadnaughts feature an offense led by mobile quarterback Raheeme Dumas, wide receiver Ricquan Southward (University of Miami commit) and running back Taylor Placides.

Katherine Smith

Class 6A-Region 2

Gainesville (10-2) at Armwood (12-0)

Where: Lyle Flagg Field, Armwood

Winner Advances To: State semifinals to play the winner of the Pace at St. Johns Bartram Trail region final.

Outlook: Shortly after first-year Gainesville coach James Thomson said his team was "going to fight'' against nationally-ranked Armwood and was not going to be intimidated by the undefeated Hawks, a local coach of another standout area squad posted a Tweet saying Armwood was about to show the Purple Hurricanes "what the bottom of a locomotive looks like.''

But after Armwood barely escaped the opening round of the playoffs against Bradenton Lakewood Ranch, a team that was 5-5 and a district runner-up, the Hawks' invincibility is not so certain. Yes, Armwood is the strong favorite in this game. And yes, the Hawks defense is arguably one of the best in the nation. But Lakewood Ranch proved a team with a strong offensive line and a few well-coached athletes can more than hold their own against Armwood.

Hawks head coach Sean Callahan and coordinators Matt Thompson (defense) and Evan Davis (offense) realize this and have taken steps to improve during the playoffs. That was evident in last week's 23-0 victory over Hillsborough in the region semifinals, where the Hawks defense returned to its swarming ways, cut down on mistakes and produced the team's sixth shutout of the season.

On offense, the Hawks have turned over the keys to junior Alvin Bailey, who has made the switch from receiver to quarterback because of the injury-plagued season of junior Darryl Richardson. With an outstanding offensive line in front of Bailey and standout running backs like Matt Jones and Wade Edwards behind him, there's really no reason why Armwood can't permanently revert to its traditionally style of power football.

Gainesville, meanwhile, has athletes like receiver/defensive back Chris Bivins, a USF commitment, who can turn things around quickly. Tomson says his team, like most prep squads, lives and dies on the performance of their quarterback, Mark Cato. When he's on, the Hurricanes are hard to stop. But if Armwood's defense can get to Cato -- and Hawks linebacker Eric Striker and defensive lineman Allen Covington have a combined 17 sacks this fall -- GHS could indeed feel what it's like to be a penny on a railroad track.

Katherine Smith

Class 5A Region 2 Final

Jesuit (11-1) at Pasco (12-0)

Where: W.F. Edwards Stadium

Winner Advances To: 5A state semifinals to face the winner of the Ponte Vedra at Crawfordville Wakulla region final.

Outlook: Although his team plowed through a nine-team district and suffered only one loss to previously nationally-ranked Plant, second-year Jesuit football coach James Harrell still says his Tigers have yet to peak.

"We won't want to peak until the state title game," Harrell said.

The Tigers entered the FlaVarsity Top 25 poll this week at No. 22, while Pasco also entered the poll for the first time, tied at No. 25 with Wakulla.

Senior quarterback Tommy Eveld, who has thrown for 462 yards and four touchdowns this postseason, has a talented receiving corps to work with, highlighted by star recruit Travis Johnson, a 6-foot-4 junior who has 613 receiving yards with four touchdowns. Senior Bryce Walker leads the unit with 668 yards and six TDs, while three other receivers – Kyle Statz, Reggie Brown and Evan Young -- have more than 200 yards.

Pasco defeated Citra North Marion, 31-28, last week on a 21-yard field goal by freshman Brandon Ray as time expired. Junior receiver Janarion Grant, senior utility man Trey Dudley-Giles and running back David Emmanuel all have 20-plus touchdowns this season, with their scores coming from all facets of the game: offense, defense and punt/kickoff returns. Senior quarterback Jacob Guy has thrown for 1,987 yards and 35 touchdowns.

Nick Williams

State Semifinals

Class3A

Berkeley Prep (12-0) at Delray Beach American Heritage (10-1)

Where: American Heritage Stadium, Delray Beach

Winner Advances To: 3A state championship game to play the winner of the Madison County at Ocala Trinity Catholic semifinal.

Outlook: Every week, Berkeley is supposed to face its biggest challenge to date. Last week, Berkeley shut out Fort Meade, a team that had bested the Bucs senior class three times. The leader of that senior class is Nelson Agholor, an all-around athlete who gets a lot of the credit for Berkeley's success, and rightfully so. This season, no one has been able to contain Agholor. He averages 164 rushing yards and three touchdowns a game.

But Agholor will be the first to point out others on the offense, including quarterback Destin Nichols (19 passing touchdowns, only one interception) and wide receiver Christian Hardegree (506 receiving yards, 10 touchdowns). Agholor, who also starts in the secondary, would also credit the defense, which has limited opponents to an average of six points per game and posted five shutouts.

Linebacker Schyler Miles (108 tackles, four sacks), linemen David Wright (8.5 sacks) and Tyler Davis (eight sacks) and defensive back Vic Pellegrino (six interceptions) will have to contend with an American Heritage offense led by running backs Greg Bryant (1,730 rushing yards, 21 touchdowns) and Jeremy Gaskins (1,254 rushing yards, 12 touchdowns).

The Stallions were state runner-ups in Class 1A last season. They've won nine straight, including last week's upset of Ft. Lauderdale University.

Katherine Smith