18 THE COURIER NOVEMBER 25, 2004 SPORTS Durant, PCHS Moving To New Districts COUGARS TO 6A, RAIDERS STAY IN 5A By DAREK SHARP StaffWriter Out go Durant and River- view and in come ... Lake. Gibson and George Jenkins? It's not official yet, but if the numbers add up that is what will happen when new high school district football assign- ments are given out next month. When the new districts are announced, Plant City and Durant's days as district foot- ball rivals will be over, at least for now. On Monday the Flor-. ida High School Athletic Asso- ciation's board of directors -approved a football reclassifi- cation plan for the next four years. Durant is scheduled to have about 100 more students than Plant City. That slight differ- ence bumps Durant up to Class 6A while the Raiders stay in 5A. But that does not auto- matically mean a tougher road for the Cougars, who get away from the likes of Lakeland. "I'm happy to get rid of Lakeland," admitted Cougars head coach Mike Gottman. "But I want to continue'all the rivalries. We have to be able to play Plant City." Lakeland is still undefeated this year and is into the third round of the 5A playoffs, vis- iting Hillsborough on Friday. As for the Raiders, they will probably not be losing the Dreadnaughts from their dis- trict, and certainly won't see their schedule get any easier if Lake Gibson joins the fray. The Braves made it all the way to the 4A championship game in 2003 and have cruised into this year's region semis, scheduled to take on East Ridge Friday. Though the FHSAA has not released the new district groupings, it's easy to figure out who the Cougars and Raiders will be competing against. Since the FHSAA has said that the 6A districts in Region 2 will have four teams each, the only logical conclu- sion is that Durant and River- view will be joined by Sarasota and Sarasota Riverview. Those are the only other schools in the area that meet the 6A min- See DISTRICTS, Page 19 Photo courtesy Lorn Brown Planters grab 3rd The Plant City Planters 12-and-under AAU travel team finished in third place at the 2004 1st Pitch Classic tournament in Lakeland last month. Planters players include Levi Brown, Cody Akers, Tyler Packanik, Mikey Moore, Brian Hart, Nicholas Jones, John Peace, Cory Pawlak, Bradley Young, Travis Cannoles and Tyler Blair. The Planters are coached by Dennis Packa- nik, Leland Young, Roger Brown and Mike Moore. SHARP CUTS Coach Stresses Discipline, Grades Champions Crowned In Youth Football Ah, the good old days. OK so it's not THAT long ago that Ginger Forte, Plant City High's new girls basketball coach, was roaming the court rather than the sidelines. But a return to those days is exactly what Forte, formerly Ginger Bennett, is seeking. "A lot has changed. There's something missing," said Plant City's career scoring leader. "When I played we were committed. We wanted to be there at practice. That's what I'm trying to instill here - commitment, discipline." So far Forte likes what she's seen. Forte has a strong nucleus of players and has seen a willingness from them to get down to business. "I want it to be fun, too, but I want them to take it seri- ously," she said. Plant City began its season Monday against one of the better teams in the area, Armwood, and held tough before losing 55-38. Senior Jerica Cohen, picking up where she left off last year, scored 23 points and played the entire game. Courtney Chapman added 10 points and newcomer, freshman Sade (pronounced CHAR-day) Dunkley showed promise as well. Both Dunk- ley, who has AAU ball experi- ence and should give the Raiders a solid inside pres- ence, and Chyijuana Cooper had knee injuries during the offseason and that isjstill a bit of a concern. After graduating from PCHS in 1984 Forte played success- DAREK SHARP fully at USF, then worked in Miami as a probation officer before switching to a career in cosmetology. Then three years ago she began teaching at PCHS. Though this is her first coaching job, Forte doesn't have to explain her basketball history to the players. "I think they've heard of me," she said. "They see what I'm about.... First thing, grades are most important, then basketball. They know that." Durant's season was set to start on Tuesday night. The schools face each other Dec. 10 at Durant.... I The Durant girls-soccer team extended its record to 4- 0 last Friday with a 6-1 win over Riverview, while Plant City's boys got their second straight tie to open the season, 1-1 at Sarasota Riverview. ... And the Western Confer- ence all-star teams for fall sports were announced recently. Plant City's Daniel .Ruel received first team honors for golf, with team- mate Chad Ballantyne on the second team along with Durant's Ryan Miller. Last week's football all-star teams had a heavy Durant/ Plant City presence. Making the first team were Durant's tight end Chris Thompson, running back Matt Stwan, offensive lineman Jason Fox and. defensive lineman Frank D'Amico while Raider star running back Derrick Hal- lback joins Stwan in the backfield. Other Plant City players on the first team were offensive lineman Jordan Strawn, defensive lineman Austin Knipp and linebacker Scott Williams. Second team honors went to Kalif Sheppard of Plant City and Mark Hughes, Brett Smouse and Jeff Corns from the Cougar defense. And keeping an eye on the football playoffs, how about the Tampa Bay area? No less than four regional finals this week match area teams with one another, if you include Evangel Christian at Fort Meade. We do of course, since several Plant City residents play for Evangel, which ended Berkeley's unbeaten season last Friday. Also playing this week: Lakeland at Hillsborough, Armwood at Middleton and Jesuit and Jefferson. All are within easy driving distance and all should be highly intense battles. TOURNAMENTS ENDED SATURDAY ByDAREK SHARP StaffWriter The Seahawks and Cow- boys both knocked off previ- ously unbeaten opponents on Saturday, winning the championships in their age groups of the Plant City Rec- reation & Parks Department/ Optimist Youth Flag Football program. The postseason tourna- ments concluded on Satur- day, with the other championship going to the Rams of the Elite League. In the Junior League, for ages 6 and 7, and for which there was no tournament, the Frogs earned the title by going through the season with a perfect 7-0 mark. As it turned out, the Frogs were the only team in any age group to go through the year unbeaten. Only one of the three championship meetings Sat- urday morning matched the top-two teams from the regular season. In the Senior League, for ages 8 and 9, it was the Seahawks handing the Jaguars their first defeat in an 8-6 win. The difference was a safety recorded by", Harrison- Heysek, 'whose brother Spencer himself came up with a safety in their 14-0 semifinal victory over the Bears. Andrew Ross' touch- down run was the only offensive score for the Sea- hawks, who finished with a record of 9-1. Kion Richards had a touchdown for the Jaguars, who also had a 9-1 record. During the regular season the Jaguars were best in the league in both points for and against, averaging a 23-3 score. Back in the season's second week the Jags beat the Seahawks 12-6 for what turned, out to be the Sea- hawks' only defeat. Points were a lot easier to come by for each team in their early-round playoff games. Last Monday it was a Haysek sort of day for the Seahawks, with Harrison scoring on an interception and a TD pass from other brother Alex, and Alex adding a TD run of his own in a 20- 13 win over the Raiders. Kory Brevik scored twice for the Raiders. Richardson had three TD runs and threw a touchdown to Destiny Harscher as the Jags beat the Chargers 27-14 last week, then in the semifinals Rich- ardson again had three scores in a 25-6 win over the Dolphins. Austin Luscko scored two touchdowns, one a kickoff return, in the Dolphins' 21-8 win over the Broncos in the first round. The Dolphins and Bears ended the regular season tied for third in the 10-team Senior League, and both would go 6-3 including playoffs. The Bears beat the Bills 25-6 as Brandon Sulli- van had two touchdowns . ...... ...