When Palm Harbor University’s football team and coaching staff woke up Thursday, they didn’t even know if they’d be playing later that night. For an hour Thursday morning, they heard they weren’t going to play the game at all — with it potentially being canceled off the 2023 schedule due to the Hurricane and school having been out most of the week.
But the players sure were glad it was quickly reinstated later in the morning, and made the best of it with a thrilling 34-33 double-overtime win over the oldest high school football team in Pinellas County — St. Petersburg High School (since 1916).
The most pivotal play — of many — came when St. Petersburg’s snapper-holder exchange for the PAT got messed up in double overtime. PHU buried it and that was the game.
“First, it was a heck of a job by St. Pete,” PHU head football coach Mike Mullaney told PalmHarborSports.com after the win. “That defensive line is as tough of a group that we will see the entire year. Defensively? It was a good job by our DBs, but way too many mistakes by our front seven.”
It was back and forth all night, with PHU falling behind 6-0 and not getting on the board until 4 minutes, 41 seconds were left in the first half when senior captain Alex Schmid caught a 5-yard TD from junior captain Will Seibert.
“We had a slow day and didn’t start the way we wished but it happens,” Schmid told PalmHarborSports.com after the game. “The good thing is we fought and we fought and thankfully we came out with a win.”
Mitch Stricker — who hit two field goals (a career-long 39-yarder, and one from 26) and was a perfect 5-for-5 on PATs — put PHU up 7-6. Stricker’s two field goals got it to 13-6 and then St. Petersburg’s sensational junior quarterback/kick returner Jeffery Jones took the kickoff after Stricker’s second FG and returned it 100 yards for a score.
“Mitch Stricker was clutch and the underrated player of the game was Matt Gunn because he did an amazing job of holding onto a few bad snaps,” Mullaney said. “Overall I was proud of the team, but we need to put it all together on both sides of the ball.”
In all, Jones coupled that kickoff return with four other rushing touchdowns in the game — two TDs coming in overtime. He finished (unofficially) with 158 rushing yards on 19 carries and threw for 71 on 7-of-9 passing with one INT. The Green Devils missed two extra-point attempts in the game, though.
“Offensively we did a good job of throwing the ball in the first half,” Mullaney added. “But it was really nice to see us finally run the ball late in the game.”
In OT, St. Pete’s Jones scored in both rounds as mentioned earlier, and PHU’s Mykhel Boebert scored on the first play of the first one, scampering in from 10 yards out. Seibert then opened the scoring in the second overtime, punching it in from 5 yards. Seibert had also scored on a 2-yard run with 22 seconds remaining in regulation just to get PHU to OT.
Seibert had a monster game, rushing for 92 yards and 2 TDs, while passing for 117 yards and 1 TD. Another key contributor, once again, was sophomore WR Jake Rennert, whose nearly 50-yard kickoff return very late in the 4th quarter gave PHU a chance, and Rennert made another big play moments later with a 1st-down catch on a desperation 4th-down play.
Key plays on defense were Matt Gunn‘s interception, captain Gunner Fodor‘s fumble recovery, and Tyler Somerfield‘s recovery of a fumbled punt return, and Patrick Iaconis‘ force of that fumble.
PHU has now won two comeback road games against two 2022 playoff teams that finished a combined 15-7 last year. The next four matchups on PHU’s schedule come against teams that finished a combined 6-32 in 2022.
The next three games at home come against Sunlake, Tarpon Springs, and Countryside, all teams the Hurricanes have beaten within the past two seasons. PHU has now won five straight against the Green Devils, dating back to 2011.
As far as I can tell, this was the first overtime win in school history. The Hurricanes lost in triple overtime in 1998 to Tampa Blake, with the second coming to Countryside in 2020 in double overtime. Please hit me up if I’m wrong.
