Erickson Kicks Dolphins to 38-35 Victory

The first time he had a chance to win the game for his team, Palisades High kicker Ethan Erickson came up a few yards short. So when he got another chance Friday night in the waning moments against Canoga Park, he was determined to make amends. With three seconds left he calmly nailed a 21-yard field goal, lifting the Dolphins to a 38-35 nonleague victory in their home opener at Stadium by the Sea.

“Coach has confidence in me in that situation and I was just waiting for my number to be called,” said Erickson, who missed a 57-yard try on the final play against Fairfax last season. “Everything was perfect – the snap, the spot, the kick – it was a good feeling.”

Erickson’s heroics capped an 11-play, 76-yard drive highlighted by two accurate passes from quarterback P.J. Hurst — the first a 16-yard completion to tight end James Mann and the second a 30-yarder to wide receiver Herbert Acosta that moved the ball to Canoga Park’s 23-yard line with under two minutes left. From there, the Dolphins kept the ball on the ground to burn clock and Coach Tim Hyde opted to kick instead of trying for a touchdown at the 4-yard line with nine seconds on the clock.

“There’s no such thing as a bad win,” said Hyde, who was nearly as exhausted as his players afterwards. “A win is a win. They competed hard and so did we. I made more head coaching decisions in the second half of the fourth quarter than I have in a year and a half. My brain is fried.”

As clutch as Erickson’s game-winning field goal was, his touchback on the ensuing kickoff played just as big a role in the outcome, for it denied Hunters speedster Darius Jones a chance at a return for a touchdown. Instead, Canoga Park had time for one play from its 20-yard line. Quarterback Danny Rivera was flushed out of the pocket by Franklin Moran and sacked by E.B. Odeh to end the game.

Desmond Box had 154 yards and two touchdowns in 13 carries, Brad Boorstin had 30 yards and one touchdown in seven carries and Willy Rosenfeld added 19 yards and one touchdown in five carries for the Dolphins (2-1).

Hurst completed seven of 11 passes for 155 yards, including a 59-yard touchdown to Mann on the final play of the first half that gave Palisades a 28-21 lead.

“It was kind of a blur – I caught the ball, turned around and realized the guys were behind me,” said Mann, who had three catches for 95 yards. “I was preparing to dive because I didn’t think I’d be able to outrun them. It was a seam rout and I got open between the linebacker and safety.”

Acosta had three receptions for 56 yards and was the holder on  Erickson’s winning kick. Center and long snapper Aria Mahinfar was confident the decisive play would be executed without a hitch.

“I just tried to treat it like any other snap – the one thing that did go through my head was Fairfax last year because that was the same situation,” he said. “After I got that out of my mind, I put my feet apart, got my regular spacing, looked one time at Herbert, waited for his hand to go out and snapped the ball. I didn’t think about anything else.”

Jones entered the game among the City Section’s rushing leaders  but was held to 129 yards in 24 carries. He caught three passes for 48 yards and also scored on a 98-yard kickoff return to tie the score, 21-21, with 21 seconds left in the first half. Tyshon Hamilton added 32 yards and two scores in nine carries for the Hunters (3-1).

Odeh led the Dolphins with nine tackles, including four for losses, two sacks and a fumble recovery, Mario Lofton had 7.5 tackles, Lofton Mason and Dhaamir Lomax each had 6.5 tackles, Aaron Butler had five tackles and Kenny Jones forced a fumble.

Hyde gambled by electing to go for it on fourth-and-two at Palisades’ 30-yard line with six minutes remaining, but the Dolphins failed to convert, giving Canoga Park a chance to take its first lead.

“Why did we go for it? Simple, we couldn’t stop them,” Hyde reasoned. “It was fourth and short, we were running the ball effectively and if we punted and let them go 60 yards they would’ve done to us what we did to them. I was not going to let them do that.”

Perhaps inspired by their coach’s decision, the Dolphins’ defense forced a three-and-out and Hunters kicker Oscar Gonzalez shanked a 47-yard field goal with 4:25 left, setting the stage for Palisades’ final frenzied drive.

“We came in wanting to make it a blowout, but as the game went on we realized the defense needed our help and we had to pick up the slack,” said Box, who broke a tackle in the backfield, got to the sideline and raced 85 yards for a touchdown early in the second quarter and added a 17-yard scoring run that put the Dolphins ahead 21-14  with 37 seconds left in the second quarter.” Jones ran all over us last year too so my mentality was ‘I have to out-rush him. He’s ranked higher than me in the City, so whatever I do, I have to out-rush him.’ I wanted to get that third TD at the end, but Ethan came through for us.”

The Dolphins prevailed despite missing key starters on both sides of the ball. Safety Duane McBroom sat out his second straight game with a bruised knee, linebacker Alec Simpson was nursing a sprained ankle, center Alex Clarke was also out and offensive guard Dominick Carrasco got injured on the third play from scrimmage and could not return.