Palm Harbor Home Game Moved to Boca Ciega

KICKOFF: Friday, 7:30 p.m. at Charles Beauchamp Memorial Stadium (924 58th St S, Gulfport, FL 33707)

TICKETS NOTES: Palm Harbor University’s football team is away at Boca Ciega in Gulfport on Friday at 7:30 p.m. (924 58th St S, Gulfport, FL 33707). The only way to gain entry Friday is by purchasing tickets through this portal on GoFan: https://gofan.co/app/school/FL5791

THE PREVIEW

PLEASE READ: Before we get into the game preview, please be advised that because of problems with Palm Harbor University’s home field, the Hurricanes will now have to go on the road to play at Boca Ciega HS in Gulfport. The field issues may also cause the scheduled home games with Dunedin (Nov. 1) and East Lake (Nov. 7) to be away games.

PALM HARBOR FOOTBALL SCHOOL HISTORY: Year by Year

Palm Harbor hasn’t played a football game since Sept. 30 — and even that was a Hurricane Helene Monday makeup game (at Largo). But the program comes into Friday’s game at Boca Ciega on a three-game win streak and hasn’t lost since Sept. 6.

“The game is now at Bogie,” PHU head coach Mike Mullaney said. “We have some possible sink hole issues on our game field. At this time we don’t know if we will be playing (the rest of) this season at home or if it can be fixed by the time we play Dunedin (Nov. 1).”

When we know more, we’ll let the community know on this site.

As for Friday’s game, when it comes to common foes, PHU (3-3) has beaten St. Petersburg and Largo — and Boca Ciega (3-3) has lost to both. But that shouldn’t give anyone the impression that the Pirates are subpar. They’re athletic and will be a challenge, and also there’s the question: Did the layoff rob the Hurricanes of any momentum it had in defending its district championship and making the playoffs again?

“We were hitting our stride prior to this previous hurricane, so you do worry about losing some of the progress you were making,” PHU head coach Mike Mullaney told PalmHarborSports.com. “The good news for us is that we have a group of players that have a good understanding of our system and what we are trying to do. Our main focus this week has just been trying to get them running and get them back into shape the best we can.”

Obviously, Boca Ciega is in the exact same situation, so neither team will get the advantage of having been on the field more than the other.

In the past three weeks, the PHU defense has really hit its stride. Senior Zach Horner (9 TFLs) has been a terror after several years primarily just playing on the offensive line. Junior Ryan Fuelling (team-leading 45 tackles) has settled in nicely at linebacker. Juniors Karter Allen and Michael Willock (7 TFLs apiece) have also been pleasant surprises … and the list doesn’t stop there.

Consecutive wins over St. Petersburg, Countryside, and Largo have seen PHU give up only 16 total points in those three matchups. And while Boca Ciega isn’t a district game, all games are critical to any potential postseason play in the FHSAA’s relatively new playoff setup. All games truly matter.

“The message to the players is that every game is important regardless of opponent or if they are a district opponent,” Mullaney said. “What you can’t do is focus on what you have accomplished or look forward to another game or you are going to find yourself in trouble. The good news for us is that Bogie is a really talented football team and we need to be at our best to win this game.

“Bogie might be the most underrated team in the county. If you look at their record they have three losses, but they are a play or two away in each of those games from being undefeated. Defensively, they are very aggressive and try and take you out of your game. Offensively they have speed all over the place which will hurt you if you are not disciplined in your assignments.”

THE SPECS:

Palm Harbor (3-3) at Boca Ciega (3-3)

KICKOFF: Friday, 7:30 p.m. at Charles Beauchamp Memorial Stadium in Gulfport (Boca Ciega HS)

MAXPREPS ALL-CLASS STATE RANKING: PHU – 165; Boca Ciega – 252

COACHES: PHU- Mike Mullaney (33-33 in 7th year); BC- Kevin Smarwt (3-3 in 1st year)

SERIES: Series tied 2-2-0 in four all-time meetings. PHU’s last win over the Pirates was in 2013. (They last played in regular season in 2014, but they did play in last year’s preseason classic, with PHU winning 10-7 in the varsity portion).

NOTEWORTHY

SCHOOL RECORD DEPT.: Senior placekicker Mitchell Stricker has now extended his school-record kicking points record to 90 points. With 11 career field goals, he’s now within two of the all-time school FGs record of 13.

DO YOU KNOW YOUR OPPONENT DEPT?: First-year Boca Ciega head coach Kevin Smarwt is a 2011 Boca Ciega graduate, and played college football at Northern Michigan — home state of PHU head coach Mike Mullaney, who went to Central Michigan … Boca Ciega, located in Gulfport in southern Pinellas County, opened in 1952 … In their inaugural NFL season of 1966, the Miami Dolphins trained at Boca Ciega HS … The 1982 movie Porkys was partially based on Boca Ciega HS.

JUNIOR VARSITY UPDATE: The JV boys are 3-2 currently and coming off a 14-3 road win over Osceola on Oct. 2. Games against East Lake (Oct. 9) and Clearwater (Oct. 16) were not played due to Hurricane Milton and its aftermath. They are scheduled to play at Dunedin next Wednesday (Oct. 23).

PALM HARBOR TEAM DEFENSE (6 games) — 125.0 rush yards per game given up, 75.3 Pass YPG