Repeat upset no easy task for Tampa Bay Tech

TAMPA — Aside from a few trench diggers or Chinese drywall salesmen, Tampa Bay Tech junior Qareeb Ahmed may have the most brutal job in Hillsborough County this week.

He’s portraying Plant running back James Wilder Jr. for the Titans’ scout-team offense.

“Ahmed is Wilder!” Titans coach C.C. Culpepper barks with equal parts urgency and vitriol. “You’ve got to come up and tackle him!”

Handoff after handoff, the Titans oblige.

With each hit on Ahmed, grass blades fly, spit swirls and Culpepper’s voice carries clear across Sligh Avenue. When 6-foot-3, 235-pound defensive end Josh Smith blocks an offensive scout-teamer in the back after an interception, Culpepper bursts across the field, positions his nose within millimeters of Smith’s, and erupts.

Upon returning to the sideline, Culpepper leans toward an observer and utters the obvious in a rich baritone voice turned down several notches.

“This,” he says, “is an intense week.”

Intense is the only way to go when you’re trying to ensnare lightning in a bottle twice in 12 months.

The only team to defeat Plant in 2009 will try and do it again tonight. And for all the parallels drawn to last year’s Panthers-Titans contest, the challenge facing this Titans group is much tougher.

Think about it for a spell, and you might be hard-pressed to find an area team in a less enviable position . Seven days after Plant is embarrassed by Bradenton Manatee on national TV, the Titans draw the Panthers, who must be foaming at the mouthpiece to atone for themselves.

If that’s not enough to galvanize Plant, last year’s defeat — when TBT rallied from a 24-0 deficit for a 32-30 victory against the eventual Class 5A state champs — surely is.

“Not only coming off last week’s loss but last year’s loss,” Panthers coach Robert Weiner said. “I mean, if we needed any other motivation, hopefully that will spark us on to be excited.”

Culpepper counters by insisting the circumstances of this year’s game are no different from last year’s, and to a degree he’d be correct. The Panthers, 48-10 losers last week, gave up 49 in a 16-point preseason loss to Manatee last year. And like that ’09 Plant squad, this year’s bunch is green defensively.

But the glaring disparity between this September and the last: Plant was significantly more battered going into last year’s TBT game. Quarterback Phillip Ely (back), safety/receiver Eric Dungy and defensive tackle Joe Pappas were sidelined, while linebacker Mike Mirabella was nowhere near full strength.

“But that is no excuse,” Weiner said. “We were up big and they had the heart and talent to come back.”

This year, junior defensive back David Lerom’s broken arm is Plant’s lone significant injury.

“It was tough before (Plant’s) loss to Manatee for us,” Culpepper said.
“They’ve still got Ely, they’ve still got Wilder, they’ve still got the big right tackle (Tony Posada). The defense is still pursuing to the ball; they just had a bad day of tackling (at Manatee) is all I saw. But they were in the right places to make plays.”

As for his own team, Culpepper will rely more on a triple-option backfield by committee now that three-time 1,000-yard rusher Maurice Hagens is gone. But he suggests his defense could be better than the 2009 unit that held six foes to nine or fewer points.

“We haven’t picked up our identity, we haven’t picked up our swag,” Culpepper said.

Tonight they can. All it takes is one scintillating sequel.

Teams in post

• Plant High School
• Tampa Bay Technical High School