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Football: Armwood 49, Plant City 7

 
Published Aug. 29, 2015

SEFFNER — Armwood opened the season in dominant fashion, beating Plant City 49-7 behind the legs and arm of Darrian McNeal and their trademark suffocating defense. While some of the big names from the back-to-back state finalist teams of the past two seasons have moved on, the Hawks return plenty of talent, size and speed. After a scoreless first quarter, the Hawks rolled and the game was on a running clock by the end of the third quarter.

KEY DRIVES: The Hawks faced first and 30 following two personal-foul penalties. McNeal hit Dennis Harris and Moses Wells on consecutive plays before exploding down to the 3 on a keeper. Brian Snead scored the first of three touchdowns on the evening to put Armwood up 7-0. After a three and out by the Raiders, McNeal carried all three plays of the next drive, scoring from 1 yard out as Armwood went up 14-0 and never looked back.

STARS OF THE GAME: McNeal carried 11 times for 116 yards and also threw two touchdowns, one to Eric Collins, the other to Trevor Laurent. Snead chipped in 122 yards to go along with his three touchdowns. Plant City's only score came on a 96-yard interception return by Steven Ogletree, who also made several tackles for the Raiders.

STAT OF THE GAME: Armwood's defense held Markese Hargrove to 50 yards on 14 carries.

FINAL WORD: "We did a good job of studying this week.Our defense kind of struggled last week, so it was nice that they got a shutout tonight. We have a lot of experience with guys like Justin Manning, Kyheem Campbell, Dedarallo Blue and Tyler Scott back. Our defensive line is very young. No big names yet, but there will be" — Armwood coach Sean Callahan