Palmetto’s second-half comeback bid falls short against Tampa Bay Tech

Unlike last week’s first-round playoff win, Palmetto came up short in a second straight valiant comeback bid.

The Tigers outscored host Tampa Bay Tech 23-14 in the second half of Friday’s Class 7A-Region 3 semifinal, but that was not enough to stave off a season-ending 42-26 loss.

Palmetto, which defeated Pinellas Park the previous week for its first postseason victory since 2012, finished the season 7-4.

“I can’t be more proud of the fight,” Palmetto coach Dave Marino said. “All we do is ask them to fight for 48 minutes, and they did that.”

Trailing 28-3 at halftime, Palmetto got two touchdown runs from senior Elijah Davis, who gained a game-high 143 yards on 19 carries, and a scoring run from Anthony Marino.

Alfredo Manriquez go the scoring outburst started for Palmetto with his second field goal of the game, a 32-yarder early in the third quarter. But Tampa Bay Tech quarterback Michael Penix Jr. led two TBT scoring drives to put the game out of reach. Penix, a senior and Tennessee commit, finished with three touchdown passes and also ran for two scores.

Anthony Marino held his own 168 passing yards. His two interceptions, however, ended first-half marches by the Tigers. That included a pick-off in the end zone after Palmetto reached the Titans’ 6-yard line when they were behind 21-3.

“We left some points out there,” coach Dave Marino said. “We had some opportunities early on and we didn’t take advantage of that. You can’t kick field goals against a high-powered offense like that.”

While Davis pounded out tough yards for Palmetto in the first half, Johnny Jones came off the bench to gain 95 yards. A 52-yard run on his first carry late in the third quarter set up Anthony Marino’s touchdown run.

This story was originally published November 18, 2017 at 12:02 AM with the headline "Palmetto’s second-half comeback bid falls short against Tampa Bay Tech."