DOLPHINS FINISH DRIVE FOR FIVE: Defense Dominates as Pali High Boys Water Polo Defeats Granada Hills 10-4 for Its Fifth Straight City Section Crown

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

When the season started back in September the Palisades High boys water polo team had one goal: retain the City title.

The Dolphins accomplished their mission Saturday at Valley College, where they played lock-down defense to stymie a gutsy Granada Hills squad, 10-4, and claim their fifth consecutive section championship.

“Defense has been the idea all season and it was stellar today,” said captain Isai Elias, who led the way with two goals and two assists. “Our offense was a little slow, but we knew if we stuck to our gameplan we’d beat them.”

Unlike last year’s final, when the Dolphins racked up goals early and often in a 19-3 rout of Birmingham, Palisades led only by only a goal at halftime Saturday.

“I was getting pretty mad,” senior Gabby Feizbakhsh said. “We weren’t expecting them to be such a high-level team. My brother (former Pali High player Alex Feizbakhsh) told me to get angry since it’s my last game. I tried not to think about that beforehand but it’s pretty surreal.”

The top-seeded Dolphins (21-7) came close to scoring twice in the opening minute, but Highlanders goalie David Wall deflected several point-bank shots.

Quinn Godfredsen threaded a pass in the hole to Elias, who converted for the first goal at the 5:22 mark of the first quarter.

Godfredsen tallied a skip shot less than a minute later to make it 2-0 and Dolphins goalie Brandon Epp kept the third-seeded Highlanders (16-4) off the scoreboard.

Lucas Silva’s turnaround shot in close gave Palisades a 3-0 lead early in the second quarter and it looked like the Dolphins might swim away with another easy win.

Not so fast. Sebastian Fernandez scored from one meter out at the three-minute mark and Matthew Hoffman scored on a breakaway 35 seconds later to cut the Highlanders’ deficit to 3-2.

Feizbakhsh’s hard shot ricocheted off the crossbar as the second quarter ended.

“We were a little worried at halftime but there was never any panic,” said Elias, whose older brother Sam is a Pali High alum and coached the JV team this fall. “We were expecting to dominate right off the bat, but sometimes it doesn’t work like that.”

After Elias found the post on a man-advantage, Orson Spence cocked and fired  to up Palisades’ lead to 4-2 early in the third quarter. Godfredsen tucked in a low shot off a pinpoint pass from Elias and Oliver Grant scored on a nifty behind-the-head flip shot to make it 6-2.

Granada Hills’ Austin Pestonji scored to ebb Palisades’ momtum temporarily, but Silva’s accurate shot from midpool gave the Dolphins a four-goal advantage heading to the last seven minutes.

Granada Hills, which reached the championship game after upsetting West Valley League rival Cleveland, in the semifinals, applied pressure at the start of the fourth quarter, but couldn’t find the back of the net.

Feizbakhsh scored twice in a 20-second span off passes from Silva and Godfredsen to give the Dolphins a commanding 9-3 lead.

As the clock ticked under four minutes, driver Andrew Wall got one back for Granada Hills, but Elias applied the final brush stroke  off a pass from Godfredsen and clenched his fist after a goal with 1:39 remaining. It was countdown time after that and when time expired the Dolphins high-fived and congratulated each other on finally completing their drive for five.

“We lost some key guys from last year like Kian Lotfi, Zach Senator and Mitchell Kim, so I knew coming into the season I had to take on more of a leadership role,” Feizbakhsh said. “And for that reason, this one’s the most gratifying. We had better chemistry as a team, we passed the ball more and we got more guys involved. I think these guys will take it all the way next year again.”

After a brief medal ceremony, head coach Adam Blakis joined his players for a celebratory dip in the pool and held the championship plaque high.

“Our passing was off in the beginning but at halftime I said stop being nervous–you’ve been here before and they haven’t,” Blakis said. “We outpaced them in the third quarter and definitely won this with our defense.”