Plantation Smashes Dillard in Military Fashion
By Rudy Rodriguez-Chomat
Sept. 20, 2002

            450 yards rushing on 57 carries and 5 rushing touchdowns. Those stats speak for themselves as these are the mind-boggling rushing stats that Plantation put on Dillard before 2,500 at PAL Field while completing an utter destruction of the Panthers 52-14.

            For the most part, it was the show of Theriton Wells and Shane Osbourne as Wells rushed for 181 yards, 2 TD's on 26 carries and Osbourne added 157 yards on 18 carries and 1 TD.

            The one-two punch of Wells and Osbourne was unstoppable and too much for Dillard to handle as the Colonels only threw the ball twice, yet one of the pass attempts went for a 34-yard touchdown pass from Richie Amchir to Cedric McGee to give Plantation at 14-0 lead 3 minutes into the game. Three minutes later it was 21-0 on a fumble recovery in the end zone by McGee on a fumble by Wells.

            While the Panthers were able to cut the lead to 21-7 at the onset of the 2nd quarter on a 4th down 15-yard touchdown pass from Oliver Bozeman to Mike Hall, there were unable make a game of it.

            "I was really upset with the way we started off," Dillard head coach Ken Scott said. "We didn't do what we needed to do to win the game. We never stepped up to the plate when we had to."

            On the Colonels next possession a fake punt run by Rueben Robinson for 16 yards keyed the drive that produced a 26-yard field goal by Phillip Worts to give Plantation a 24-7 lead.    

            Dillard's next drive brought them to a key 4th and goal from the 2, but Bozeman's pass was broken up by Albert Brown in the end zone and that was it for Dillard.

            "We just kept going on offense," Plantation head coach Frank Helper. "Our practice at a high tempo. We preach high tempo and for them to emulate what they see on Saturday's in college football; to watch how much fast the game is played at and that is what we want them to do."

            Plantation’s brutal running game took over in the 4th when the floodgates opened up.

            These holes allowed Wells to break a 49-yard run early in the 4th that was capped by a 7-yard TD run by Osbourne to make it 30-7. The Panthers cut it to 30-14 on a QB sneak by Bozeman at the 9-minute mark of the 4th, but that is all Dillard could muster up.

            The Colonels continued to pound the ball on the ground with touchdown runs by Wells, Travaris Bess, who finished with 70 yards on 7 carries, and Wells again.

            "If this type of butt-whipping doesn't wake the kids up, I don't know what will," Scott said.

            Could it be that the Panthers looked past Plantation?

            "In the pre-season Miami Herald, Dillard didn't mention us as one of their big games and I think that kind of got under the kids skin because they think of this as a rivalry and it is," Helper said.

            Maybe next time Dillard will think of this as a big game because this was such a bad night for them that about the only time the Panthers had its fans on their feet was when the band was rocking a tight show on the field at halftime. It was already 24-7 at that point.