Dr. Phillips survives playoff scare from Bloomingdale, advances to 8A semis

The Dr. Phillips Panthers received a passing grade after taking a difficult test Fridaynight.

Dr. Phillips overcame an 11-point halftime deficit to defeat visiting Bloomingdale (Valrico) 24-21, sealing the Class 8A regional quarterfinal victory on Tashaun Lindquist’s fumble recovery at the DP 32-yard line with 57 seconds left.

The Panthers turned to the power running game – sometimes out of a Wildcat formation – to find success against a strong Bloomingdale defense that tackled well. Emare Hogan’s 2-yard touchdown run with 4:59 remaining put the Panthers (11-0) ahead to stay and came just over four minutes after Chris Wonsley’s 2-yard TD run helped give the Bulls a 21-17 lead.

Trailing 14-3 at intermission, Dr. Phillips went 62 yards in 10 plays on its opening possession of the second half. Jaquarius Bargnare’s 5-yard touchdown run and Ethan Shafer’s extra point made it 14-10, and Lindquist’s first of two fumble recoveries led to a Bargnare 3-yard TD run with 2:41 left in third quarter.

Bloomingdale (9-2) reached the DP 23-yard line with 1:25 to go, but a penalty backed the Bulls up 5 yards and they turned the ball over on the next play.

“You can do things like this when you’ve got 32 seniors and that’s the only way we pulled it out, because the seniors refused to go home,” Dr. Phillips head coach Rodney Wells said. “I asked them at halftime, ‘Are we’re going to practice Monday or are we turning in our equipment?’ One hundred percent of the team told me that we’ve got practice on Monday.”

Top-ranked Dr. Phillips returns home next Friday to face No. 5 Tampa Plant (10-1) at Bill Spoone Stadium, which will mark the fourth consecutive regional semifinal meeting between the two schools.