It may have been a spring game, but try telling these two rivals that the matchup didn’t matter.
Palm Harbor won the first three quarters of its Thursday home matchup with a strong Tarpon Springs team, edging the Spongers 21-20 in what was considered the varsity portion of the matchup. Then the rest of the game, which featured a mixture of mostly varsity reserves and potential junior varsity players, went 14-0 in PHU’s favor.
It was a rare drama-filled spring game — which many times feature a lot of rust, errors and little else. PHU head coach Mike Mullaney doesn’t often sugar coat things, so his reaction summed it up.
“That’s probably the best spring game I have been a part of,” Mullaney told PalmHarborSports.com. “Both teams fought hard. Tarpon is going to be a beast this year. You can tell they are early in their (playbook) install, but you can see how explosive they are going to be. It was good back and forth competition.”
With college coaches from James Madison, Howard and Stetson on hand — just to name a few — watching prospects from both teams, PHU rising senior quarterback Will Seibert scored the game-winning touchdown on a run late in the third quarter. Up until that point, Tarpon Springs hadn’t trailed in the game.
When the two teams played in fall 2023, Tarpon Springs edged PHU by a point. The Spongers finished 9-1 last year but didn’t make the playoffs, while PHU won its district and wrapped its season 8-3.
Tarpon Springs’ Division I prospect Makih Johnson scored two of the Spongers’ touchdowns on receptions, while John Angelo threw two TDs. Ryze Rosado also caught a TD, while Joaquin Kavouklis also threw one. Johnson reported an FBS offer from Kent State just this week, and has 16 total options — including early verbal offers from Indiana and Iowa State.
PHU’s other two touchdowns came by rising senior running back Jaxon Wilson, who is expected to get a heavy workload this fall. Rising junior tight end/receiver Owen Kollar also caught a touchdown from Seibert. Rising junior Alex Malyszko had a key sack of Angelo in the game.
The two teams will meet again in the second regular-season game at Tarpon Springs on August 30.
