WHO: Durant (7A-8), Plant City (7A-8), Strawberry Crest (7A-8) & Armwood (6A-8)
WHEN: Thursday, May 23, 6:30 PM
WHERE: Lyle Flag Stadium, Seffner
WHY: When looking at all four teams, these teams have promise in some way or another to be competitive and this jamboree will be a great starting point to see how these teams will look heading into the summer.
For host Armwood, they are appearing to be heading toward a bounce back of a season and we will get to see just what they will have on the table for the rest of the state to see this year. The Hawks, will be in a challenging 9-team district, which is not going to allow them much room for error and will need to work on any issues this summer since district play will start in Week 2 this year. Talent wise, the Hawks have some names that are up and coming in the wings and we will get to learn more about them as they show more of that talent on the field.
Durant is coming off a 10-0 season, but didn’t turn that success into much of a playoff run as most would have expected. The Cougars have some holes to fill and this game will be a true test to see who will be able to plug those holes possibly. If these holes get filled, expect the Cougars to be in the thick of their district this season.
Plant City, which has some ups and downs can be competitive and again this game will show us just how serious they are about being competitive again this year. The Raiders will have Durant in their district again with Strawberry Crest joining the group, so getting kinks worked out will be a key to be competitive this fall.
For Strawberry Crest, they showed a lot of promise last season during head coach John Kelly’s first season at the helm. Not only success saw increase in the win totals, they also had their first player sign a Division I football scholarship. We believe that the Chargers will show us what is next in the rise up during the jamboree. If they do this and stick to the plan Coach Kelly has, the Chargers could easily challenge for a playoff spot this season.
