Palm Bay football concluded its spring program with a jamboree game on Tuesday, May 19, against Sebastian River.
The Pirates saw positives on both sides of the ball as the game was tied in the fourth quarter. However, a field goal and a late interception returned for a touchdown propelled Sebastian River to a 24-14 victory.
“I saw some really good things and then I saw some things that we need to fix, even that I need to fix,” Palm Bay head coach Kevin Mays said. “I should have kicked. I should have taken the two field goals early to get some points on the board. I was hoping to see the offensive line be able to get us a first down. I definitely saw some positives, but definitely some things we got to grow from.”
The Pirates drove into the red zone on their first two possessions, but they turned the ball over on downs both times. They broke through on offense in the third quarter on a 75-yard touchdown screen pass from rising junior Mik Zades to rising junior Tim Sedaros to tie the game at 14-14.
“I felt like we kind of moved the ball pretty good between the 20s and then it kind of stalled with penalties, a bad snap, a turnover, but that was good,” Mays said. “We’ve got some good players.”
Palm Bay moved the ball efficiently on offense behind Zades. The rising junior, who saw his 2025 season get cut short after an injury, completed 12-of-16 passes for 234 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception.
“I think he (Zades) did good,” Mays said. “He was really upset about that last ball, but it was a forced ball. I thought he played really well. Handled the offense, controlled it.”
Sedaros scored both Palm Bay touchdowns. After fumbling the ball on offense, Sedaros picked up a Sebastian River fumble 2 plays later and returned it 60 yards for the game’s first points.
“It was good. I knew we had to score,” Sedaros said. “It was right after I fumbled and I felt like I made a big mistake, so I knew I had to make it up. I got it and I was like nobody’s going to touch me. I’m going to score. I saw the end zone and I was gone.”
On offense, Sedaros ended the night as the top wide receiver with 5 receptions, 135 yards and 1 touchdown.
After the graduation of its starting quarterback, top six rushers and three of its top four receivers, Sedaros said he’s ready to shoulder a much bigger role.
“I felt like we did good, but obviously there’s ways we can improve,” Sedaros said. “We just got some things to work on and the team knows that. We got to play more as a team.”
Sebastian River used its run game to take control of the game, rushing for 197 yards. The Sharks closed the first half with a game-tying 1-yard rushing touchdown with 42 seconds remaining to cap a 3-minute, 50-second drive.
They received the second-half kickoff and went 75 yards in 7:59 to take the lead on a 2-yard touchdown run. Sebastian River broke a 14-14 tie with 9:01 remaining in regulation with a 38-yard field goal. That drive took 6:44 off the clock.
Palm Bay’s Sam Sanders recorded 1 sack. Josiah Denton and Aiden Davis combined for a sack.
“They had a controlled offense. That was the plan they came in with,” Mays said. “I told the guys in here that we got to get in the weight room, get a little bigger, little stronger and be able to handle that constant push. Overall, the effort that I felt my guys played with was good. We didn’t quit. We played hard. Obviously we wanted to win, but I saw some good things.”
After going from 0-10 in 2024 to 2-8 last year, Mays said it’s been a successful start to the offseason with room for improvement heading into the summer.
“We saw things good enough (Friday) that we can be better than what this place has been over the last couple years. We can better. It takes us being better,” Mays said. “That’s in the weight room, being better teammates, being disciplined, character, all of those types of things. We just got to teach these guys to be better because it’s been a little while since this place has won and we got to teach them how to win.”
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Palm Bay football shows promise despite spring game loss
Reporting by Sam Ficarro, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
