Dolphins Display Versatility Against Uni

Balanced Attack and Stingy Defense Highlight Palisades’ 35-7 Homecoming Victory

The challenge for the Palisades High offense heading into last Friday’s homecoming game was how to cope with the speed of the opponent’s secondary.

Coach Tim Hyde knew he had the ingredients, he just had to find the right mix and the recipe that ultimately did University in was a steady dose of Box and Hurst.

Having opened Western League play with back-to-back road games, the Dolphins returned to Stadium by the Sea determined to put on a show for the home fans and get back on track after their disheartening loss to Venice the week before.

Using a balanced attack, Palisades kept the Wildcats guessing all night. Running back Desmond Box ran for 196 yards and two touchdowns in 17 carries and quarterback P.J. Hurst completed 10 of 14 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns – both to Quincy Cowherd – as the Dolphins struck early and often. Although they did the job on the field, Hyde believes the game was won long before the opening kickoff.

“I think we won this game last week after that Venice heartbreak,” Hyde said. “This was a hungry group. They showed up, they practiced hard, they hit the sleds, they lifted – they did everything they needed to do to prepare for this game and it showed.”

Box opened the scoring on a 38-yard run to cap the Dolphins’ second possession and Cowherd’s 11-yard scoring catch made it 14-0 with 35 seconds left in the first quarter. Five plays after Kenny Jones and Alec Simpson combined on a sack to force University to punt from deep in its own territory, Box burst through a hole from 12 yards out to make it 21-0.

“We threw early and when we had to throw to score we did it,” Hyde said. “We know they’re a man-to-man team so we attacked them. If you want to play man, you have to cover five of our guys. Once we established that we took it right to them with the running game.”

University (3-5, 1-2) got on the scoreboard with 1:12 left in the second quarter on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Paul Davis to Eugene Ford, but that left too much time for Hurst and he took advantage, marching his team from its own 33 to the opposition’s 9-yard line. A holding penalty pushed Palisades back, but Hurst delivered a pinpoint pass to Cowherd in the corner of the end zone from 18 yards out and the senior wideout made the grab inbounds to give the Dolphins a 28-7 lead into halftime.

“They play a man defense so  they know I’ll be there on the outside and if P.J. throws it up I’ll go and get it — that was the plan,” said Cowherd, who had three catches for 39 yards. “We go through everything we’re going to do in practice, we all study it together, we know what routes to run to beat the coverage, I know where P.J. wants the ball, he knows where I like the ball and that’s the way it is with all the receivers. We have developed great chemistry.”

Cowherd was far from a one-man show, however. Hurst also had completions to Box, Ryan Ashmore, Tony Frazier, Herbert Acosta and two to Dhaamir Lomax, including one for 38 yards.

Hurst has thrown for 1,527 yards and 14 touchdowns in eight games and Hyde believes the sky’s the limit.

“P.J. is only a junior and he’s getting better every game,” he said. “He’s reached the point where we can ask him to win a game for us.”

Willy Rosenfeld completed the scoring on a two-yard run late in the third quarter.

Palisades’ defense was just as impressive as its offense, intercepting three passes and limiting Nelson, University’s rushing leader, to one gain over 10 yards and 160 yards total in 18 carries.

Lomax had a 17-yard interception return in the first half and Justin Mason picked off two passes in the second half, returning the second 23 yards out of the end zone with 1:51 left in the game.

Simpson finished with seven solo and six assisted tackles (two for losses), fellow linebacker Mario Lofton added five solo and four assisted tackles (two for losses) and Mason, E.B. Odeh, Jones and Lomax each had five tackles.

Hyde preaches playing hard for all four quarters and his defense never stopped competing Friday and offered a prime example midway through the fourth quarter. University faced fourth-and-goal at the 2-yard line when Lofton knifed into the backfield to tackle Nelson behind the line of scrimmage, giving Palisades (5-3, 2-1) the ball back on downs.

“Our guys wanted that last stop, they wanted to hold them to seven — especially a team that beat Venice,” Hyde said. “It was a solid night overall. Outside of one big run, which was my fault, we held them in check all night long.”

Palisades’ special teams unit also shined, led by kicker Ethan Erickson, who bounced back from a subpar performance against Venice to drive all six of his kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks and boom a 49-yard punt. He also made all five of his extra-point tries, improving to 31 of 33 on the season.

“It was a solid win,” Hyde said. “We stayed aggressive on offense, we got after them on defense and we kept the penalties to a minimum. That’s the same back who ran for over 200 yards against Venice.”

Cheers from the packed crowd was music to the Dolphins’ ears and they put on a show for their fans.

“You always want to win big on homecoming night to show your school that you’re legit,” Cowherd said. “We have to play every game the way we did tonight. Every game is a must-win from here on out.”

The game was a stark contrast to last year, when the Dolphins trailed at halftime before coming back to win in the fourth quarter.