Palm Harbor’s football program advanced to 3-0 on the year Friday — and now eyes next week’s home game against nearby rival Tarpon Springs to begin the season 4-0 for the first time in the school’s 27-season history.
PHU knocked off Sunlake (Land O’Lakes) 35-2, holding the opponent to 41 total yards of offense (36 rushing, 5 passing). Last year, the Hurricanes survived Sunlake in Pasco County 13-10 in their first-ever meeting.
The word “survive” was not necessary this time.
Once Matt Gunn‘s 9-yard touchdown pass from Will Seibert came at the midway point of the third quarter, PHU pulled its starters and the referees instituted a running clock because of the 35-point lead rule. The game was effectively over in 2.5 quarters.
The PHU defense was absolutely suffocating, not allowing Sunlake to advance past the 50-yard line before the running clock kicked in. The Hurricanes choked the clock, forced countless mistakes — and proved it will be a force to be reckoned with for the rest of 2023.
On offense, there weren’t gaudy numbers because PHU frankly didn’t get a whole lot of snaps. Mykehl Boebert played the best game of his career and the Hurricanes’ offensive line chewed up the clock and had such good field possession most times that it moved the ball in the run game like a hot knife through butter.
Boebert only carried once in the second half, but his 84 first-half yards rushing and two touchdowns put Sunlake in the rearview mirror early. Seibert’s arm wasn’t needed as much as it was in the first two wins over Osceola (Seminole) and St. Petersburg High, and he finished with 38 yards passing.
The special teams’ play of the game came when Logan Givens blocked a second-quarter punt, then scooped it up himself and returned it for 15 yards untouched to make things 28-0 going into halftime. With the running clock rules these days, it will be difficult for PHU to ever reach its 59-point outburst in one game in 2016 (against Riverview, 59-21).
PHU will play host to Tarpon Springs (2-0) next Friday (Sept. 15) at 7:30 p.m. The Spongers blew out Osceola (Seminole) by a comparable 21-point margin to what the Hurricanes did (PHU won by 18).
It should be a good matchup. Buy your Palm Harbor athletics tickets at GoFan.com every week.
