Palm Harbor Falls in Heartbreaker, Playoff Hopes Tougher

THE GAME STORY

LUTZ — Some of the toughest life lessons of youth come from the disappointments that arrive via sports.

Palm Harbor’s football team (3-5, 1-1 in 6A-10) learned some brutal lessons on Friday night. Some of the players were visibly upset afterwards, while the exultation of a last-second win happened on the Steinbrenner sideline just a few yards away. The Warriors (4-4, 2-0) scored their go-ahead touchdown with only 7 seconds left on the clock to nab a 38-34 district win.

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With 3 minutes, 29 seconds left in the game, PHU was ahead by 10 points, 34-24, and looked like it was on its way to a second consecutive district championship and playoff spot. Then, the unthinkable happened. Jubilation in the stands and sidelines turned to silence in a matter of ticks.

“I loved the way we competed the entire game,” PHU coach Mike Mullaney told PalmHarborSports.com. “We beat ourselves and that is what makes it tough. We were the better team, but if you don’t finish you get the result we had.

“That game will haunt me for the rest of my life, but you have to get up and move on. To be that close to winning back to back district championships? That makes it sting a lot.”

After PHU went up 10 late in the game, Steinbrenner’s Kelton Meares took the ensuing kickoff back 65 yards for a touchdown — after a PHU penalty shortened the field. Then the Warriors recovered the onside kick on the next play — leading to a short drive that PHU still had a chance to stop, but didn’t.

It was the kind of game that gave you goosebumps first, then hives … chills, then night sweats. Steinbrenner’s atmosphere was delightfully electric, no BS. The facility was immaculate, its senior night attracted a loud, packed-house crowd — a stark contrast to last week’s mostly empty stadium on the road trip to Boca Ciega.

The lighting effects reminded fans of a college setup, complete with pulling out the cellphone and turning on the flashlight app and singing songs in between quarters. It truly was an awesome high school atmosphere for a game that had district championship and postseason implications.

The game lived up to that atmosphere, if not fueling it.

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Yet Palm Harbor did not act fazed. Truly. In fact, in true form as described above, the Hurricanes actually kicked things off in the game by absolutely owning Steinbrenner. True to their typical gameplan, the ‘Canes chewed up 9 minutes, 30 seconds on their first drive that culminated in the game’s first points just seconds into the second quarter.

The Will Seibert keeper and the Jaxon Wilson plunge — all behind good line play — worked so well, it strangled the clock. In fact, there’s no question Wilson played his best varsity game. He was absolutely instrumental on Friday and went well over 150 yards rushing. Until the final minutes of the second quarter, it was still 14-0 Palm Harbor — thanks to another 6-minute drive by PHU in the middle of the second quarter.

Something big changed in the second half. Steinbrenner began to move the ball much better, and PHU wasn’t able to own the clock. Water-bug like RB Emmanuel Arango woke up for the Warriors and helped get things back on an even keel — but again, PHU was still very much in this game, though the Warriors won the second half, 31-20.

Thanks to their first-half efforts, PHU was still able to fight back to that 10-point lead late in the fourth quarter. Brady Messick — the senior exclamation point maker — punched in his second short-yardage TD of the night and put the Hurricanes ahead with 5:03 left on the clock, and then up-and-coming sophomore defensive star Logan Rapp returned an interception 17 yards for another touchdown just moments after Messick’s TD.

It seemed to be settled. PHU would seal the road win in a wild atmosphere, and as expected, Largo would beat East Lake (which did happen). The Hurricanes would enjoy a short bus ride home in celebration style — gearing up for two more regular season games (Dunedin and East Lake) and then began to scout teams for the playoffs.

Instead, they will never forget Friday night’s 35-minute return ride for darker reasons. For the younger players, it will serve as a reminder to never, ever let up — or this will happen again. For the seniors, it will become a life lesson, as their parents will tell them. Even with a year’s worth of weightlifting and training and film work behind you … sometimes you get hit in the face. A lot. And only your teammates truly understand. Life has the exact same ebb and flow to it.

You have some real highs in life, and man oh man do you get some gut punches too. Nobody is immune — and nobody who doesn’t wear your colors even cares. It’s reality. Beyond that? We’ll withhold the sympathy and watch how these young men bounce back. They’ve already dealt with the storms and what that nasty weather has done to their neighborhoods and families, and they’ve dealt with the reality that they may only get to have played one home game this season for various reasons out of their own control. Nobody seems to be bitching about it.

Two games remain, against two very local rivals — and the Hurricanes haven’t been eliminated from the postseason or even the district title hunt.

So dammit, chins up. Proceed.

“I fully expect us to come out these last two weeks and finish this season the way I know we are capable of doing,” Mullaney said.