Well, gang, they did it.
Back on August 26, when it all started on a sweltering night in Palm Harbor against Osceola HS (of Seminole), who could have predicted a winning season for the Hurricanes? But the Palm Harbor football team of 2022 ended on a positive note — beating neighbor Dunedin 27-6 at home Friday, on senior night.
PALM HARBOR FOOTBALL HISTORY: The record
The expectations back on August 26? Maybe 2-8, maybe 3-7, maybe 1-9? But the first winning season since 2016? No way.
Too many key people had graduated or transferred. Too many injuries were a problem (Gunner Fodor, anybody?). But in the end? This young team, with a feisty senior class to lead it, got it done.
And nobody will ever be able to take away Palm Harbor’s 6-4 finish. Is it the greatest winning season in Florida or Tampa Bay history? Absolutely not, but nobody is saying that. Is it the greatest season at PHU? No — that greatest season could come in the next few years if the current underclassmen buy-in.
What 2022 was? It was a stepping stone, a season the underclassmen need to tuck into their memories and improve upon — and one where this small senior class should take pride in. The seniors were the lantern keepers in the effort. They dealt with going shoulder to shoulder with 15-year olds — playing both ways when asked to. They were the leaders, they never complained — and they received warranted recognition on Friday.
“I’m very proud of how this group competed this season,” PHU head football coach Mike Mullaney told PalmHarborSports. “The one thing that I will always remember about this team is how they just keep playing no matter what. After losing what we lost last season, the expectations were not high, but it didn’t matter to our players.”
So what did PHU do this year? Four of the six wins were nailbiters. Sunlake, Tarpon Springs, Sickles, and Seminole were all by 7 points or less. And only Sickles was at home, one of only four home games.
The most impressive win? It was 27-6 against a very, very strong St. Petersburg HS team that finished 7-3 Friday night and could very well be in the postseason. It’s an example of what this PHU team can do when all cylinders are firing.
Friday night — you could argue that all cylinders were not firing, and PHU still closed out its season 27-6 at home. Sophomore QB Will Seibert rushed for two touchdowns, Junior RB Mykehl Boebert returned from injury after about a month and punched in a score to set himself up for 2023 — and Freshman LB/RB Alex Malyszko set himself up for 2023, 2024, and 2025 — with a bomb of a run over more than 80 yards for a TD.
On defense? Sophomore DL-LB beast Brady Messick continued to make a case for PHU’s season’s 2nd half MVP honors (since Fodor went down with injury) with negative yardage play after negative yardage play.
And we’ll let Coach take it from there:
“Defensively, Logan Givens had his best game of the season,” Mullaney told PalmHarborSports. “Brady Messick did a great job of getting pressure on their QB all night long.”
And then, there are the seniors:
In the preseason, seniors like WR Mason Kryk and Isaac Jeffre, OL Ken Quach, DL John McGlinchey, DB Drayton German, FB-LB Jake Gemmill? And DB Justin Finley coming back late after an injury? Mullaney said bluntly in August: “We need our seniors to take a load on their backs and carry this group, by being unselfish and many times playing both ways.”
Well, they did that, and they were recognized in front of the home crowd. And to the underclassmen? Don’t you ever forget what these guys did, because they laid the groundwork for what is to come in this program.
“As far as our seniors, I will love those guys forever,” Mullaney told PalmHarborSports after the game. “I’m so happy that they had this season when everyone counted them out. Every one of them was a starter and contributed to the success of this season.”
And to you underclassmen who will come back and try to set the bar the highest it has been in a quarter century at Palm Harbor? Coach has a message — and you now have a gift …
Expectations.
Not many PHU teams in the past have had expectations, but the word’s out guys. Take a short break, and start thinking about 2023. Hopefully, the seniors from 2022 and 2021 will stop by and yell for you when they can in 2023. But the next year, two years, three years, and beyond?
It’s up to you. It begins this weekend. You won’t regret the effort if you buy in.
“Next season?” Mullaney said. “We need to learn how to play four quarters of football. If we do? We can build off of this.”
PHU WINNING SEASONS:
2023 — ???
2022 — 6-4 (four wins by 7 or less, three on the road)
2016 — 6-3 (best offense in school history — 330 pts in 9 games)
2015 — 6-4 (last beat East Lake)
2012 — 8-3 (made playoffs — top win total in PHU history)
2011 — 7-5 (made playoffs — first playoff win in PHU history)
2008 — 7-3 (first winning season in school history)
