Palmetto Falls One Game Short in Memorable Year

PALMETTO – You can feel it when the momentum shifts in a football game. It's like one car getting an extra gear, while the one next to it blows a tire. The Palmetto Tigers came onto the field on Friday night ready to pounce and when their offense lit up Miami Norland for 20 points just moments into the second quarter, the Vikings looked dizzy, as if sucker-punched between the eyes just after getting out of bed.

The Miami fans wandered into the unfriendly confines of Harllee Stadium and found a jam-packed, spitrited Palmetto crowd that was thirsty for blood. The Tigers quickly drew first with RB Josh Hicks capping off an impressive drive with a 3-yard TD run. Norland was able to grind out a respectable drive on the ensuing possession, but star RB Randy ”Duke“ Johnson was wrapped up and slammed hard on several carries, before the Vikings attempted a field goal. The kick was blocked and Terrance Mann scooped it up without missing a beat, then opened up his stride to take it the full 66 yards for the score.

The tide turned in Palmetto's favor and QB Trent Miller marched the team down the field for another score as the skies opened up and cold rain spilled onto the grass. A 17-yard strike to Crawford put the Tigers up 20-0. Louisville-bound LB Daqual Randall led an agressive defense that stuffed Norland's high-octane run game for most of the first half, but toward the end of the second quarter, Norland started to find its groove. Duke Johnson, who has already committed to Miami, started to find success on the counter trap, while Norland began to hit the screen passes they'd been setting up all night.

Johnson is the kind of back that can laze behind a block as if he's in slow motion, never hitting the hole too fast. He switches gears like a cheetah and can cut back in the opposite direction at speed, even on a wet field apparently. Johnson took off for a 67-yard score in the second and had another TD run called back, before Norland punched in their second score.

The Palmetto defense began to quiet in the second quarter, while Norland came on and the 20-14 halftime lead seemed tenuous. In the third quarter, Johsnon erupted for more than a hundred yards on just two TD carries of 36 and 72 yards. Palmetto managed another scoring drive capped by an 8-yard TD pass from Miller to Shaq Harris to put the Tigers within a point, but the Vikings came right back with another scoring drive to go up 35-27 and two elite offenses ground out a scoreless fourth quarter.

The Palmetto season is over, but its historic run will be remembered in the annals of Tiger lore for decades to come. This is the beginning of the Dave Marino era. 12-2 with a district and regional title to display in the new locker room. Traditions like petting the cat, that will undoubtedly become woven into the school's culture into infinity.

Years from now, local fans will recall the season when it all started. A pasty-skinned kid from Buffalo moved to town and put the missing piece into the puzzle that a new coach had figured out how to solve. The legacy of Lincoln High, the return of the three-headed rivalry, the unwelcoming stadium over the bridge that Southeast and Manatee thought a little bit harder about when they crossed. State title or not, 2012 is the year of the tiger.