By BRIAN MCLAUGHLIN
PALM HARBOR – East Lake extended its dominance over rival Palm Harbor University, winning Friday’s critical Class 8A, District 11 matchup 23-7.
Steinbrenner won the other 8A-11 game on Friday, knocking off Alonso 29-0.
The Eagles (2-4, 1-0) went to 17-4 all-time (on the field) against the Hurricanes (3-2, 0-1), who have not won this game on the field in six years (there was a forfeit win in 2017). Even though East Lake came in with the 1-4 record and Palm Harbor was 3-1, the Eagles looked crisp on offense and moved the ball better than anybody has on the Hurricanes since Northeast in the season opener in August.
East Lake finished with 380 yards of offense, easily the biggest explosion against PHU’s defense since Northeast’s 297 on Aug. 27. Since then, PHU has been rather stout. But the Eagles’ balanced attack kept PHU off-balance. As it turns out, this East Lake program is much better than its record indicates.
Junior quarterback Jake Bechtel was impressive, throwing for 245 yards to seven different receivers. His arm, the playmaking ability of sophomore Ti’lan McGee (77 yds rushing, 1 TD) and senior Michael Chrysakis (50 yards rushing), powered a balanced offense. The defense held PHU running back Luke Yoder to less than 200 yards for the first time since the Northeast game.
Oh, and East Lake’s wrecking ball, defensive lineman Phillip Parimeros, wreaked havoc.
“I told (PHU) right after the game that this game is obviously a big one for the district and now we’re going to have to steal a game … from a team that maybe we won’t be favored to beat,” Palm Harbor coach Mike Mullaney said. “East Lake played some really good teams and that may have been the difference in the game. They played teams where it was more of a fist fight and maybe we weren’t prepared for that.”
East Lake had five-point losses to Mitchell and The Villages, as well as one to Clearwater by seven. In fact, after Friday night, East Lake’s four losses have come to teams that are a combined 19-3 – clearly an impressive strength of schedule.
The second half was a stalemate, as was the first quarter. The pivotal moments came in the second quarter when East Lake put together two of its best-looking drives in a game that PHU dominated in time of possession (32-plus minutes out of 48). Big-time conversions on third-and-long situations were the tide-turner in the second quarter – otherwise the final score would have looked more like a stalemate.
The Tampa Bay area’s top rusher coming into this weekend, Yoder, continues to impress for PHU. The junior running back opened the game with a 27-yard run, and he finished with 175 rushing yards on 33 carries (and one TD). With a minimum of five games remaining in his junior season, he looks easily within reach of the single season rushing record (1,175 rushing yards by Ryan Myers in 2011). Yoder went over 1,000 yards on Friday night (1,022) and has half the season to go.
Career-wise, Yoder moved into sixth all-time on the school’s 25-year rushing list – now standing with 1,271 yards in two seasons. James Brown (1998-2000) holds the school record with 2,329 career rushing yards.
| TEAMS | 1ST Q | 2ND Q | 3RD Q | 4TH Q | FINAL |
| EAST LAKE | 7 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| PALM HARBOR | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Q | TEAM | SCORING PLAY | PAT CONV. | TIME LFT | DRIVE |
| 1 | EL | McGee 19 run | Eichner kick | 9:12 | 8 plys, 80 yds |
| 1 | PHU | Yoder 6 run | Lynch kick | 0:59 | 3 plys, 25 yds |
| 2 | EL | Stiehl 20 pass from Bechtel | Snap fumble | 10:05 | 10 plys, 60 yds |
| 2 | EL | Bechtel 1 run | Eichner kick | 3:03 | 11 plys, 90 yds |
| 2 | EL | Eichner 43 FG | n/a | 0:00 | 4 plys, 63 yds |
| EAST LAKE | PALM HARBOR | |
| 1st downs | 17 | 16 |
| Att-Rush | 27-135, 2 TDs | 42-195, 1 TD |
| Total offense | 380 yards, 3 TDs | 301 yards, 1 TD |
| Pass-C-A-I | 15-23-0-245 yds, 1 TD | 9-26-1-106 yds, 0 TD |
| Punt | 3-37 avg | 2-41.5 avg |
| Penalties | 4-35 | 4-25 |
| Fumb-Loss | 4-3 (inc punt muff) | 3-2 |
| Time of Poss. (48 mins) | 15 mins, 47 seconds | 32 mins, 13 seconds |
