Dustin Kent
Floridan Sports Editor
Published: February 27, 2008

he last time the Marianna Bulldogs made the Final Four in Lakeland in 1985, the current Marianna coach, Travis Blanton, was then a Bulldogs player.

Blanton’s 1985 Bulldogs fell to Jacksonville Bolles in the semifinals.

The 2008 version of the Bulldogs will get a chance to give their coach some redemption today when they take on the Pine Crest Panthers at 1:30 p.m. in the 3A state semifinals in Lakeland.

The winner would advance to Friday’s title game against the winner of P.K. Yonge and Dunbar at 2:30 p.m.

“The kids are excited and ready to go,” Blanton said Tuesday of his players, who had to change their Tuesday practice location due to the massive power outages in South Florida. “I think they’re just relaxed and looking forward to it.”

Blanton said he tried to keep the team loose on the long bus ride with funny movies and old clips of Muhammed Ali fights.

“Of course, we don’t want them to be too loose,” the coach said, “but we definitely don’t want them to be too tight.”

Whatever their nerves are like at gametime, the Bulldogs’ play will need to be superb to keep their season alive against a very talented Pine Crest club.

“Pine Crest is just very, very good,” Blanton said. “They’re big, physical and quick. They’re well-coached and fundamental. There aren’t a lot of negatives to say about them.

“We’re going to have to play as well as we can play.”

The Panthers are led by 6-foot-3-inch, sophomore point guard Brandon Knight, touted by many recruiting services as the best prep guard in America for the class of 2010.

The speedy point guard, who is averaging 26 points per game during the playoffs, will present a challenge to the Bulldogs it hasn’t seen this season.

Blanton said it’s difficult to prepare a team to defend the kind of burst that Knight possesses.

“All you can do is talk about it because you can’t simulate it in practice,” the coach said. “We just have to move our feet and try to force him to shoot jumpshots with a hand in his face.

“Even the greatest basketball player ever, Michael Jordan, didn’t shoot as well with a hand in his face. That’s what we have to remember.”

The Bulldogs will also have to contend with a formidable post pair in the Panthers’ 6-foot-8-inch Jeff Pelage and 6-foot-5-inch Ed Waite.

“It’s going to take the best effort we have,” Blanton said of today’s game. “We need the best effort of every player. We can’t take any plays off, not one. But it can happen. If we play as well as we can, it can happen.”

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The game will be broadcast on WJAQ 100.9 FM.