NOTE: A full midseason update/report will be published on PalmHarborSports during the open week (Oct. 2-6).
Palm Harbor is beginning to go places not too many Hurricanes teams have gone in the past, yet the most critical games lie ahead.
After beating Tampa Sickles 24-7 on the road Friday night, the Hurricanes are 5-1 for the first time since 2012, only the second time ever. They will have next week off before playing host to their second 4M-District 6 opponent on Oct. 13 — Steinbrenner out of Lutz.
In Friday’s other 4M-6 game, East Lake edged Steinbrenner 37-36.
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“I’m very proud of our team this week,” PHU head coach Mike Mullaney told PalmHarborSports.com. “We won a game that a lot of teams would not have won. Every challenge that the staff put on them this week they embraced.”
The Hurricanes dominated the run on both sides of the ball. Senior Gunner Fodor — who just managed to move into third place all-time in career tackles in PHU history — also was game-changing in the run game, offensively. He has been used sparingly on offense all year prior to the Sickles game.
His backfield teammate, Mykhel Boebert, went over 100 yards rushing for the third straight game and scored all three touchdowns. Fullbacks Alex Malyszko and Brady Messick played critical roles, and the offensive line pushed and shoved its will on the Gryphons (2-4) for much of the game. Senior Matt Gunn performed admirably in his first career start at quarterback, guiding the offense.
On offense, it was clear what the goal was: Chew up the clock and run the ball down Sickles’ throat. That’s exactly what happened.
Defensively, the run defense was brutally tough — the front was impressive. Negative-yardage plays piled up when the Gryphons tried to run. The blitz packages worked too, though sometimes Sickles’ QB Brandon Royal, who is about one game away from 6,000 career passing yards now, was able to improvise and make plays in the passing game.
In the end, Royal’s passing prowess didn’t matter (Royal threw for 212 yards unofficially). The PHU defense held up and kept the Gryphons’ high-octane offense on the sideline, smothering four fourth-and-long plays during the game to force turnovers on downs.
“This week I challenged our defensive line and basically called them out,” Mullaney said. “They responded big time this game. (Sickles) could not block Brady Messick and the rest of our defensive line. When the offense was struggling, they kept us in the lead and made big plays all night long.”
And special teams — oh man did that play a role, especially early. Sophomore kicker Mitchell Stricker hit a 42-yard field goal — the longest at the school in two years and good for Top 10 length all-time. His points had an effect on game strategy until late when PHU pulled away.
Senior captain Alex Schmid was incredibly effective in the punting game, angling the ball away from dangerous Isaiah Hudson, and Jett Jackson’s crafty kickoff acumen also kept the return threats at bay. There’s no question this game was PHU’s special teams’ finest hour.
It was a big win, and now the Hurricanes can rest up a bit.
“As long as I am the coach our identity (on offense) is going to be about running the ball and playing smash-mouth football,” Mullaney said. “We struggled a little bit from the second quarter to the middle of the third. But when we needed it in the fourth quarter we dominated the line of scrimmage.”
Next week, PHU will get its lone “idle” week to heal up and prepare for the Steinbrenner (1-4) game on Oct. 13. Then it will be non-district Seminole (4-1) at home, East Lake (3-3) at home, and Dunedin (1-5) on the road.
