PALMETTO — Boring is an adjective that cannot be applied to Palmetto’s football team.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, a large dose of early season excitement has yet to lead to a win after the Tigers fell 34-31 to Lakewood.
This comes a week after Palmetto (0-2) lost by two in Venice, and similar to that game, in which the two teams combined for 90 points, Friday’s contest featured a bevy of fireworks.
But it also included a flurry of penalty flags chucked at Palmetto, including a pair of fourth-quarter personal-foul penalties that destroyed an offensive drive and fueled a Lakewood one that resulted in the game’s deciding touchdown.
One flag brought the ball from the Spartans 31 to their 46. And three plays later, hotly recruited quarterback Ryan Davis hit Joshua Page for a 24-yard touchdown to give Lakewood a 32-31 lead with 6:27 to go. Davis and Page hooked up on the ensuing two-point conversion.
Davis, who has nearly 30 Division I offers, rushed for 135 yards and a touchdown and threw for three more. The Spartans, who reached the Class 5A final four last year and are ranked 10th in their classification this season, totaled 441 yards of offense.
The Tigers did their share of scoring, too, thanks in part to Quincy Washington, who rushed for 130 yards and gave Palmetto a 31-26 lead when he returned a kickoff return 83 yards for a touchdown with 2:24 left in the third quarter.