TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Suncoast Pinellas News

Tarpon Springs Flies Past Palm Harbor

Tarpon Springs 36, PHU 13

Eric Horchy/SUNCOAST NEWS

Palm Harbor running back J.J. Rivera gets tripped up by Miles Toli's diving hit.

ADVERTISEMENT

By Eric Horchy | The Suncoast News

Published: September 6, 2008

PALM HARBOR - Danny Reyes and the Tarpon Springs Spongers came into Palm Harbor and launched an aerial assault Friday night, throwing for 344 yards while beating the Hurricanes 36-13.

Reyes finished with an impressive Week 1 stat line going 18-for-27 with three touchdowns while spreading out his 344 yards amongst six different receivers.

Senior receivers Bobby Vavlas and Drew Kier aided in Reyes' big night by hauling in 11 combined passes that totaled 252 yards. Vavlas grabbed five for 153 yards and two scores while Kier caught six for 99 yards and a touchdown.

The game began far from smooth sailing for the Spongers. After only three total plays, Tarpon fell behind 6-0 due to a lost fumble and Palm Harbor's 18-yard scoring rush by Phillip Gandolfo.

Three combined offensive series later, the Hurricanes would recover another fumble in their own territory while still leading 6-0, but the quick defensive and offensive outbursts would prove to be short lived.

The Tarpon Springs defense began to tighten up and stifle any Palm Harbor attack, keeping Hurricane quarterback Sean Shelton under duress all night long. The constant pressure led to a 5-for-18 night passing and only 40 yards for the senior signal caller.

Palm Harbor was also hampered by the penalty flag throughout the game, racking up 10 calls for 93 yards. Sixty of those yards were via four 15-yard personal foul penalties.

Tarpon Springs took a 7-6 lead that would prove to hold up for good with an eight-play, 78-yard drive capped by Marcus Nemeth's 11-yard score. Nemeth finished with 28 yards on five carries and scored twice.

As a team, Tarpon Springs ran for 112 yards.

The Spongers kept the pressure on immediately by successfully executing an onside kick, but after marching straight down to the Hurricane goal line, the Palm Harbor defense stood up Reyes on four straight sneaks up the middle to regain possession.

Following another lost fumble on an attempted punt return when Palm Harbor's Tyler Katica-Jones flattened the Sponger return man, Reyes and the offense finally began to click - as well as finish. Vavlas' 30-yard touchdown reception with 19.3 seconds left in the first half made it 13-6 Tarpon heading into the break.

It was the failed first-and-goal drive that stuck out for Tarpon Springs head coach George Kotis while talking to his team during the half.

"It was a character check," he said of the decision to continue trying to plug it in up the middle. "We had the ball first-and-goal at the 2-yard line, and without a doubt I knew we could have went outside, but I wanted to set the tone that we could run them over. And we proved we couldn't do that."

"We're trying to send a message that we're back, and you can't send messages if you can't punch it in from the goal line.

The Spongers came out in the second half how their head coach had envisioned them to start the first.

Their defense forced a quick Palm Harbor three-and-out, then immediately drove 63 yards for the 20-6 lead on Nemeth's second trip to the end zone.

The barrage was on from there, as Hurricane punter Max Gallin fell on a bad snap in the end zone for a safety. On Tarpon Springs' next possession following a free kick, Reyes hit Vavlas in stride down the left hash marks on the first play from scrimmage for a 57-yard touchdown and the 29-6 lead.

While acknowledging his offensive units' impressive numbers (456 total yards), Kotis also said they are capable of more.

"It's still not there," he said. "Over the summer we were clicking a lot better than we are now. (Reyes') composure showed, but we've got to be able to protect him so he doesn't have to run around the field."

Tarpon Springs will not take to the field again until Sept. 18 for their annual rivalry game against East Lake on Thursday night at home.

Palm Harbor travels to Largo next Friday.

TARPON SPRINGS-7-6-16-7---36
PALM HARBOR-6-0-7-0---13

PASSING:
Reyes (TS) 18-27, 344 yards, 3 TDs
Shelton (PHU) 5-18, 40 yards, 1 INT
Sastre (PHU) 2-2, 52 yards

RUSHING:
Tarpon Springs
Nemeth-5-28, 2 TDs
Lewis-9-41

Palm Harbor
Gandolfo-6-31, TD
Rivera-6-36
Woods-7-29
Katica-Jones-1-22, TD

RECEIVING:
Tarpon Springs
Vavlas-5-153, 2 TDs
Kier-6-99, TD

Palm Harbor
Guju-2-52
Kenyon-2-22

Eric Horchy can be reached at 727-815-1071 or ehorchy@suncoastnews.com

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT