Plant Panthers
2015: 9-3, 7A-District 8 champs. The Panthers wrapped up their 11th-straight district title and lost to Lakeland in the second round of the playoffs.
Head Coach: Robert Weiner
Key Returners: LB Thomas Allen, LB Davis Bak, WR/DB Juwan Burgess, TE/DL Judge Culpepper, QB Dane Frantzen, OL Bryce Jenkins, WR/DB Whop Philyor
The Scoop: Burgess returns to action after sitting out last season while eligibility at Plant was established. He is a much needed boost to the offense and a great target for Frantzen who put in a lot of extra time in the offseason to take his game to the next level.
Quotable: “The first thing for them to understand when they put on a jersey is to understand what their past has been, but to understand that their past is not them, understand that their past is someone else and be proud to be a part of that past, but we have to pave our own way as we go forward.” Weiner
The Plant Panthers are a team on a mission. Complete with a mission statement.
"We keep telling our seniors to teach our underclassmen what the essence of being a Plant Panther is, but I don’t think never really pronounced that and really enunciated exactly what that was,” head coach Robert Weiner said. “This year, we want to make it very clear to them of what it means to be a Plant Panther.”
With great power comes great responsibility. Wearing the "P" comes with a lot of responsibility and tradition. Four state championships and a Bay Area best 11-straight district titles.
“We won a bunch of state championships but we’ve got to make our own,” senior linebacker Thomas Allen said. “None of us has ever been to a state championship, so we have to make our own.”
“You’ve got to rep the “P” especially at quarterback,” senior Dane Frantzen said. “Anytime you put on a shirt that says Plant, it’s time to go to work.”
The Panthers have been putting in that work in the offseason. Grueling weight training mixed with yoga, all in an effort to get back to the state championship game for the first time since 2011. That would be mission accomplished.
“There should be a pride of what’s gone before them,” Weiner said. “But if there’s too much pride then there’s entitlement and when there’s entitlement, there’s not work because you don’t think that you need to work to earn something that people before you have earned.
“We want to take what this monumental goal is in front of us and have our kids understand that this is a possible thing for us to achieve.”
2016 Schedule
8/27 at Alabama Bryant
9/2 at Hillsborough
9/9 at Robinson
9/16 Leto
9/23 Armwood
9/30 Wharton
10/7 at Sickles
10/14 at Gaither
10/21 at Freedom
10/28 at Wiregrass Ranch