The Hurricanes (3-0) bring a victory over Newsome High School (2-1) in their first district game with a final score of 41-38. It was Palm Harbor’s homecoming night, September 18, and winning was not going to be easy.

As the ball was kicked off, the game began at a rough start. Newsome scored within seconds of the game starting making the score 7-0. Everyone in the stands suddenly got a feeling that it was going to be a tough battle the whole way through. By the time the quarter ended Newsome was ahead 14-7.

When the second quarter began, Newsome got the ball back and was able to score for the third time giving them a large lead over the Canes 21-7. At this moment, the crowd had thoughts of losing, but no such idea was going to enter the mind of wide receiver TJ Colmery (#2) and quarterback Cameron Mouton (#3). Mouton and Colmery saw this as an opportunity to give this game all they had and show off the true ability they have on the field. Standing at the 40 yard-line, Mouton had the ball back in his possession. The ball was snapped. Mouton looked for someone open in the backfield, but he saw nobody open, so he decided to run the ball himself. Seconds later the score was 21-14, putting Palm Harbor right back in the game.

Although Mouton and Colmery were ready to win this game, it takes two sides of the field, offense and defense, and the defense was not on their normal level of intensity and containment that they had been so far this season. “Throughout the game we have been losing outside containment; once we get control of the outside containment we will be able to beat their offense,” Dagan Cecere said. Sure enough a few plays after Mouton scored, the Wolves ran the ball outside until the score became 28-14. At the end of the half, the score was 28-21 with two touchdowns by Colmery and one by Mouton, still leaving a lot of work to do.

When the second half began, Colmery knew exactly what he needed to do. Get the ball down field. If defense wasn’t going to do their job then it was his priority to get all the points he possible could to give Palm Harbor their chance. Within the first couple of plays he was already scoring his third touchdown of the game, tying it up at 28-28, but Colmery was saving the best of his game for the end. By the end of the third quarter, the score was 35-28 and Palm Harbor’s defense had decided to wake up. The Wolves got all the way to the 2 yard-line when the Canes defense pushed them back, only allowing a field goal.

The fourth quarter was just beginning and the Canes were still trailing the Wolves 38-28, but PHU was getting the ball and there was still no stopping their offense. Running back Nick Gust (#21) ran the ball play after play getting to the offense to the 27 yard-line, which gave Mouton and Colmery another perfect chance at a touchdown. As the play began Mouton was immediately swarmed by the Wolves, giving him no choice but to throw a jump ball to Colmery. Despite his height, Colmery jumped over the defensive back grabbing the ball and scored for the fourth time this game (38-35).

Palm Harbor was behind by 3 points, time was running out quickly, and the Wolves had the ball. The Canes defense was their last hope. As the Wolves tried every trick they had, nothing got by the defense. The Canes kept pushing the Wolves back, until they had to punt the ball giving Mouton another chance to score. Mouton was moving the ball well downfield getting closer and closer to the touchdown that would put them in the lead for the first time this game. As they approached the 20 yard-line Colmery knew that he was going to get the ball and get his final touchdown. When the ball was snapped to Mouton he threw it to Colmery and he jumped backwards, catching the ball with one hand to win the game 41-38, and receive his fifth touchdown in the game.
Next week, September 25 at 7:30pm, will be the Canes first away game and second district game this season against Riverview High School in Sarasota.