Palm Harbor Football Faces Talented St. Petersburg Team

KICKOFF: Friday, 7:30 p.m. at Palm Harbor University HS

TICKETS NOTES: Palm Harbor University’s football team is hosting St. Petersburg HS on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The only way to gain entry Friday is purchasing tickets through this portal on GoFan: https://gofan.co/app/school/FL5995

THE GAME STORY

UPDATE NOTE, 11:30 PM THURSDAY: PalmHarborSports has three credible sources — who are not currently a part of either of the two teams’ programs — saying that St. Petersburg star senior QB Jeff Jones will not play Friday. PalmHarborSports reached out to SPHS coach Denis Gillen this week but we did not connect. Jones did have two unsportsmanlike penalties in a recent game, which can carry a one-game suspension. No matter what is going on, the PHU coaching staff told us late Thursday that they will believe it when they see it and they will not change their preparation for the dangerous Jones.

PHU fans, the local boys are facing the most consistently dangerous and talented player it has faced over the past four seasons: St. Petersburg High School QB Jeff Jones. But the Hurricanes haven’t lost to Jones or SPHS the past three years, even though this ancient foe has been 18-7 combined the past few years and the head-to-head matchups have been tight.

Again, Jones is probably the best player PHU has faced over the past half-decade, but the Hurricanes are 3-0 vs. a very good Green Devils team since 2021, and Friday’s game is right up the street. Jones is a run-first talent, putting up 4,500 yards via the ground while throwing for nearly 1,900 yards in his career.

Is he the best player PHU has faced over the past few seasons?

“I’d probably say so, in terms of all the things he can do and how important he is to his team,” PHU head coach Mike Mullaney told PalmHarborSports this week. “He brings that dynamic to the offense. He has the speed, he’s very shifty and elusive. Two years ago we did a pretty good job containing him, but last year we did not do a good job.

“You just have to be smart about how you rush him. You have to be very disciplined on defense.”

PALM HARBOR FOOTBALL SCHOOL HISTORY: Year by Year

PHU defensive coordinator Matt LePain, knows his defense has its work cut out for it. The veteran coach told PalmHarborSports that the key to Jones — if there is one — is to try to force him to the inside because if you let him bounce outside, you’ll lose that footrace every time. Like Mullaney, LePain said discipline will be the keyword.

In general, his run defense has been the biggest positive for the ‘Canes, especially the past two weeks — so it will pit its solid reputation against its biggest challenge of the year, Jones.

LePain has been pleased with the play of junior Ryan Fuelling, who was tapped to take over the unofficial “captain of the defense” middle linebacker spot for last year’s now-graduated MVP, Gunner Fodor. LePain praised Fuelling (19 tackles in 3 games) for his innate ability to sniff things out and his hunger to learn more, something Fodor and 2021 standout Ian Seibert were both known for.

“I already knew (Fuelling) was going to fill (middle linebacker) well,” LePain said. “I knew it last year when he stepped in the last two games and he wasn’t afraid. You have to be able to call a defense and you have to watch film and that has a lot to do with me … But I don’t overwhelm them. I always tell them, if I have to teach you how to play middle linebacker, you’re not a middle linebacker.”

LePain also heaped the praise on two-way star lineman Zach Horner as the MVP of the first three games. He also noted the play of sophomore Logan Rapp at linebacker as a pleasant surprise considering his lack of varsity experience.

Horner has been on varsity since his freshman year, one of three players (Will Seibert and Brady Messick being the other two) who started games way back in 2021.

“I would say we’re getting better every week for sure,” Horner told PalmHarborSports. “Yes we’re 0-3 but we were super injured and playing good teams. Now we’re getting back all our guys this week. The offense will be much better this week. Our backups were playing as hard as they could, but the offense is going to get better this week.

Like his coaches, Horner has been happy with the run defense. It has given the Hurricanes a chance to win, even with the offense decimated by injuries.

“I really do think stopping the run is like our bread and butter,” Horner said. “It all starts up front with our nose guards and three D-ends. If we don’t do our job then our linebackers get hit by their O-lineman and the linebackers aren’t getting to their job of flowing to the ball and making tackles. I take on double teams most of the time. When we give up yards, it’s just off missed tackles and that’s just because we hesitated, but we’re getting better every week at fixing that.”

Also — for the first time in 2024? PHU is at full strength offensively, which has been a massive issue through three games against good opponents. Injured QB Will Seibert is back in the lineup after missing last week, according to Mullaney, as are starting offensive tackles Hayden Turley and Braden Dam, and of course — DL/FB Brady Messick is beginning to hit a stride. This was not the case in Week One.

In all, it’s been a rather tough start to 2024, but that’s because of a tough schedule and key injuries more than anything. If you include St. Petersburg’s 3-0 record so far coming into this week, PHU’s first four opponents are a combined 10-1 this year and were a combined 33-11 last year.

“And when you throw in our preseason game against Mitchell (3-0 this year), we’ve been through four challenging weeks,” Mullaney said. “The good thing about it is you learn to be ready to play the game. It’s like that case where you have kids, and one way to teach them to swim is to throw them in the deep end — they will definitely learn how to swim quickly.

“Some of our kids are still figuring things out and understanding that in practice when we coach technique, that when you use it in the game you will find success. That has happened in the last few weeks for some kids who have seen that work for them and then you get a better buy-in. Like anything else, you’ll have some kids figure it out more quickly than others.”

THE SPECS:

St. Petersburg HS (3-0) at Palm Harbor (0-3)

KICKOFF: Friday, 7:30 p.m. at Hurricanes Stadium in Palm Harbor

ALL-TIME SERIES: Palm Harbor leads 8-5-0

LAST GAME: 2023 – Palm Harbor won 34-33 in 2 OTs

LAST ST PETE WIN: 2013

COACHES: PHU- Mike Mullaney (30-33 in 7th year); SPHS- Denis Gillen (20-23 in 5th year)

NOTEWORTHY

SCHOOL RECORD DEPT.: Slipping by unnoticed last week was the career school record set by senior placekicker Mitchell Stricker, who was good on PHU’s lone PAT to break his tie with Logan Ruby (2011-12) to give him 79 all-time points. Stricker has been the starting kicker since week one of his sophomore year in 2022. Stricker now has his eyes on the career field goal record of 13, as the senior has 10 during his career.

DID YOU KNOW DEPT?: More than 100 years ago, St. Petersburg HS — which started football way back in 1915 as Pinellas County’s first team — came up and played Southern College in Palm Harbor. The games were played where the college — now known as Florida Southern and once located in Lakeland — was located at the top of Florida Avenue at Omaha Street. In 1916, SPHS’s football team and supporters boarded a train and came north to the Sutherland Depot (Sutherland was renamed Palm Harbor in 1925) and the Green Devils played the Southern College reserves team. Southern won that game.

JUNIOR VARSITY UPDATE: The JV boys are 2-1 currently and coming off a comeback home win on Wednesday against Countryside. The Hurricanes were down 14-7 at the half but stormed back to score 25 unanswered points in the second half.

The JV played in the PCAC county championship game last year before falling to Lakewood from the south. The JV Canes travel to Pinellas Park next Wednesday before hosting Clearwater on Sept. 25. Then it closes out its regular season with a trip to Largo on Oct. 2 and hosting rival East Lake on Oct. 9.