Closer to Kickoff

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

As the start of the season gets closer and closer, practices are getting more and more intense for the Palisades High football team.

Optimism is high for a squad coming off its best season in two decades and bolstered by what has the potential to be one of the  best offensive lines in the entire City Section, the Dolphins are eager to make 2017 even better than 2016.

“The question each of you should be asking is ‘Am I doing my job for everyone else?’”  head coach Tim Hyde told his players Monday after their first practice in helmets. “The goal is that standard level of performance and once you reach it you have to keep grinding to do it again.”

Since taking over the progam in 2013, Hyde has implemented a physical brand of football predicated on running and hard-nosed defense that has helped shed the “soft” label once and for all.

“Our opponents know we play physical for four quarters,” Hyde said. “Each and every player has to be ready to go when his number  is calledWhen it comes to our five offensive linemen we will be shuffling the deck. Right now, it’s about learning our assignments so when the shoulder pads come on we know what we’re doing.”

Daniel Hayes, a junior transfer from Loyola, is handling the quarterback duties along with returner Jared Dodson, and rotating carries at running back are seniors Dakotah Hamilton and Valentino Sterza and Darion Robinson, who starred on junior varsity last year.

The Dolphins are scheduled to scrimmage El Camino Real on Aug. 18 in Woodland Hills and open the season Aug. 25 against Cleveland in Reseda.