Never before in the history of Hillsborough County have three of its high schools reached the state finals in high school football.

Plant, Armwood and Jefferson all won their semi-final games Friday, and will move on to the finals that will begin Friday.

Jefferson, who squeaked by St. Augustine 28-27, will be facing Miami Norland in a 1 p.m. contest Friday for the Class 3A State Championship.

Plant, coming off a 48-6 thrashing of Lakeland, will face Ft. Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas for the Class 5A State title at 7 p. m. Friday

Armwood, who prevailed 22-20 over Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer, will face Tallahassee Lincoln for the Class 4A title Saturday at 1 p.m.

In the Plant victory, normal starting quarterback Phillip Ely watched from the sideline with an injured back as his teammate, James Wilder, Jr., beat the Dreadnaughts single-handed.

Wilder rushed for 215 yards, [private]scored five touchdowns, blocked an extra point, and recovered a fumble.

Plant (12-2) was never challenged as the game started with an 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Eric Patterson. They went on to score 20 unanswered points before halftime.

In Armwood’s victory, they were trailing by one point with five seconds left when head coach Sean Callahan called senior Darrell Dudney from the sideline and sent him into the game. Dudney responded with a 44-yard game winning field goal to push his 14-0 team into the finals.

The undefeated Jefferson Dragons (14-0) pulled out their victory with senior quarterback Quentin Williams pounding his fist over his heart.

With 6:24 left in the game, Williams, who passed for 249 yards and two touchdowns, scored on a one-yard run to tie the game. They then converted the extra point to claim their one point lead.

Jefferson’s defense did their part with linebackers Ramik Wilson and Tyriq McCord sending St. Augustine players in reverse for losses.[/private]