Lions Roar into City Section Playoffs

Knowing last Friday night’s football game would be the last for Head Coach Kelly Loftus, Palisades High players wanted to show their appreciation by sending him out a winner. Although the effort was there, the execution was not, resulting in a 55-7 trouncing by host Fairfax–by far the Dolphins’ most lopsided loss all year. Fairfax had the ball eight times and scored eight touchdowns. Quarterback Clyde Paschal threw for four touchdowns and ran for one and Matt Bowen rushed for over 200 yards as the Lions (5-5, 2-3) clinched a playoff berth and dropped Palisades (1-9, 1-4) to fifth place in the Western League. “The score doesn’t show how hard we played,” PaliHi senior fullback Joe Brandon said. “This one kind of got away from us early. Their zone reads are tricky and tough to defend. Coach Loftus is a great motivator and we wanted to win this for him. He can be tough at times but he just wants us to succeed.” Malcolm Creer’s 6-yard touchdown run on the final play of the first quarter cut Fairfax’s lead to 14-7, but the Lions responded with 20 unanswered points before halftime to put the game out of reach. Palisades quarterback Branden Sanett attempted only seven passes but completed two for 85 yards. “They executed the hell out of us,” Loftus said. “They were successful running counter plays and once we committed to stopping the run, they exploited us over the top.” Frosh/Soph Coach Ray Marsden’s squad added the exclamation point to its season with a hardfought 15-12 win that wrapped up the league title. The Dolphins led 7-6 at halftime courtesy of Spencer Sawai’s 20-yard run and the point-after kick by Ricky Lynch. Fairfax took a 12-7 lead on the first drive of the third quarter. With time winding down in the fourth quarter Palisades drove 70 yards in seven plays to go back on top, capped by Jauan Tate’s 1-yard quarterback sneak. He threw to Tyler Hildreth for the two-point conversion. On the Lions’ next possession, Christian Hawkins stripped the ball and ran to the 40-yard line with 2:05 left. After a punt, Fairfax drove to Palisades’ 30 with five seconds remaining but Bryce McSorley got a sack as time ran out. “It was a pleasure coaching this group all season,” said Marsden, whose team went 8-2 and outscored its opposition 249-84. “We had 15 different players score touchdowns. By the end of the year, our freshman were all contributing. We scored every which way you can–on kick returns, punt returns, offense, defense and even a safety. The defense had 15 interceptions, two shutouts and scored five touchdowns. When we were clicking in all phases we were unstoppable.”