Plant falls to Dwyer in 7-on-7 tourney

Posted Jun 12, 2010 by Katherine Smith

Updated Jun 12, 2010 at 07:52 PM

WEST PALM BEACH A week after winning the UCF 7-on-7 tournament, Plant came up short in the Heath Evans Foundation 7-on-7 Championship.

Competing at the invitation-only event with some of the top teams in the state, including American Heritage, Miami Washington and Glades Central, Plant advanced to the quarterfinals before they were eliminated on a last-second touchdown by last year’s Class 4A state champions Palm Beach Dwyer.

After emerging through pool play 2-1, with the lone loss to Dwyer earlier in the morning, Plant was seeded sixth heading into the single-elimination bracket play. They advanced to the quarterfinal rematch with Dwyer after a first-round victory against Olympic Heights, where Plant quarterback Phillip Ely threw three touchdowns in four full possessions.

Ely was strong against Dwyer, throwing three more touchdowns, including a deep pass to Antonio Crawford to go up 20-15 with two minutes remaining. But with the ball last, and a suspect malfunctioning clock, Dwyer was able to score the go-ahead score on the final second of the game after Plant’s defense made two goal-line stands.

The game drew a large crowd, including Evans and his fellow NFL players Vince Wilfork and Kevin Faulk.

Plant didn’t come away empty handed. They won the Linemen Challenge, besting the linemen from the 15 other schools invited. Plant was in first place after the tire flip, obstacle course and bench press (which James Wilder, Jr. finished second with 24 reps of 185 pounds). They did well enough in the five-man sled push, with Wilder, Tony Posada, Nathan Shienle, Steven Galloway and Patrick Wright.