Plant High School football continues to chase Florida state championship

The Panthers are ready to take the next step after reaching the Class 4M state semifinals last season

William Putnam of Plant celebrates a Panther touchdown Friday's regional semifinal against Viera. High School Football Plant At Viera / Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY

TAMPA, FLORIDA - Rise, climbing, ascent and summit.

Those four words have been the motto's the Plant Panthers' football team has lived by under head coach Hank Brown.

Rising from being a below .500 mark club when Brown took over to ascending last season in reaching a state semifinal to now taking aim at winning a state championship. Reaching the summit is the goal for Brown's group in 2024 and he made that very clear at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Media Day at the AdventHealth Training Center.

"When I took over as head coach, we came up with a tag line and it started out as 'We Rise'," Brown said. "It was about putting things back together and getting guys in the right place. We rose from there to 'Keep Climbing' in taking a mountain approach if you will. Then we went into the 'Ascent' last year as we were ascending to the top and now it's the 'Summit'."

There's plenty of reasons to like this particular group under Brown, as his program has continued to improve and especially on the offensive side of the ball. Having a University of Florida commitment like Waltez Clark definitely helps.

Clark returns to the Panthers for his senior campaign after putting up solid numbers in Plant's state semifinalist season. The running back/linebacker tallied 476 yards on the ground, scored 15 touchdowns and hauled in 22 passes for 357, four scores. 

Guiding the offense, which returns nine starters from 2023, is quarterback JC Mirasola. Mirasola shared quarterbacking duties with Trey O'Malley and put up some strong numbers nonetheless. As a junior, Mirasola completed 112-of-205 passes for 1,431 yards and 15 touchdowns. 

The quarterback has a couple stout receivers to throw the ball to in 2026 tight end Tripp Brown (21 catches, 286 yards in 2023) and 2025 wide receiver Ben Mackinnon (49 catches, 553 yards in 2023).

With the off-season providing a glimpse into what Plant's offense could look like, including the Panthers winning the FHS 7-on-7 Association's state championship last month, Mirasola believes it's given the team a confidence boost heading into camp.

"Our goal is to better ourselves and better our passing game," Mirasola said about how 7-on-7 has helped Plant's offense during the off-season. "It's always nice to win those 7-on-7 tournaments. It gives you a confidence boost and it just shows you what you can do as a team and gives you hope."

The trip to the summit and trying to claim the program's fifth state championship will not be an easy one. Playing in a district, Class 6A-District 8, which includes Armwood, Sickles, Wharton and a classification that includes state powers Bartram Trail, Buchholz and Homestead provides a challenging road ahead.

Reaching the summit is the goal and the only one in mind for Plant in 2024.

"The kids when they think about these things its where we are and what are we doing," Brown added about the journey the team is on. "Summit is about getting to the top and being on another level. The kids have really worked and have backed up what summit means. Incredibly selfless and hard working, sacrificing a lot of what it is to be a kid to reach the top."

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-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @sblivefl