Dolphins Keep the Dream Alive

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

It was a story of two halves last Friday at Hamilton High.

In the first 24 minutes, nothing went right for the Dolphins. Over the last 24 minutes, however, they played their most inspired football of the season, scoring 30 unanswered points to stun the Yankees, 30-23, and keep their hopes of an undisputed league title alive.

“The first half was atrocious… the worst half since I’ve been here,” Pali High Coach Tim Hyde said. “Still, there was a lot of time left. Look at the baseball playoffs, it’s not over until that last out.”

The Dolphins (6-1 overall, 2-0 in the Western League) played with heavy hearts and dedicated the game to assistant coach Chris Hyduke, whose 90-year-old father passed away the night before.

“Every game is like a playoff game from now on—that’s our mindset,” said Innocent Okoh, who rushed for three touchdowns, including the go-ahead score with less than one minute remaining. “Since the beginning of the season we’ve talked about getting a 12th game and that’s still our goal.”

Hamilton was forced to punt from its own 47-yard line with the clock ticking under three minutes and Palisades took over 70 yards away from victory.

Okoh ran three times to pick up a first down, then slipped through cracks in the defense for a 14-yard gain to move the chains again. Okoh plunged ahead for two yards and on the fifth play of the  drive, Marrio Lofton broke loose for a 40-yard gain to the 4-yard line of Hamilton (2-5, 0-2).

Okoh scored standing up to give the Dolphins their first lead    with 59 seconds left. He finished with 201 yards in 27 carries—the sixth straight game he has run for 100 or more yards. Lofton added 94 yards in nine carries (an average of 10.4 yards a rush) and added 12 tackles on defense.

Quarterback Jonah Manheim demonstrated senior leadership, shaking off an early pick-six to engineer four second-half scoring drives.

The Dolphins couldn’t get out of their own way in the first half, managing one first down and committing four turnovers.

After Aerick Russell hauled in a 50-yard touchdown pass from Christian Carey on the Yankees’ second drive, Lofton fumbled to set up a 22-yard field goal that put the home team up 10-0.

On the Dolphins’ next drive, Jacques Wilson picked off a Manheim pass in the flat and raced 53 yards untouched, but Aaron Butler blocked the extra point.

When the Dolphins got the ball back, sophomore Tommy Beattie took over at quarterback but threw an interception on the first play. Palisades forced a punt, but went three-and-out on its next series. Hamilton drove to the Dolphins’ 11-yard line, but Lofton recovered a fumble with four seconds left and it appeared Palisades would trail only 16-0 at halftime.

However, Drevon Macon stepped in front of a receiver to intercept Beattie’s pass over the middle and weaved his way for a 33-yard touchdown with no time remaining on the clock, though it appeared his knee touched the turf short of the goal line.

“The first half we played horrible and when we came into the locker room Coach Hyde said we have to pick it up,” Okoh recalled. “He made a powerful speech. I don’t remember everything he said, but man it was powerful. I took it to heart, the whole team took it to heart to do whatever we have to do to win.”

Palisades began its comeback on its second drive of the third quarter, a methodical 12-play, 74-yard march orchestrated by Manheim and capped by Okoh’s 13-yard run. Jake Taitelman kicked the extra point and suddenly the Dolphins had hope.

After a Hamilton punt, Manheim connected with speedy receiver Cameron Bailey on a 43-yard pass play, then hit tight end Quinn Perry for another 12 yards to move the Dolphins into scoring range. 

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Manheim stepped up in the pocket and found Perry cutting across the back of the end zone. Perry caught it with two hands in midair and held on for a 17-yard touchdown. Okoh ran for the two-point conversion to make it a one-score game.

Hamilton drove to Palisades’ 21-yard line on its next possession, but linebacker Dakotah Hamilton recovered a fumble on third down and the Dolphins were back in business.

Eight plays later, Okoh ran 22 yards up the middle for a touchdown. On the next play, he curled out of the backfield to snare a bullet from Manheim for the two-point play that tied the game with 5:21 left.

“Four years in a row the team we’ve had the closest battles with in league is Hamilton,” Hyde said. “It was tight all the way in 2013, they won by a TD in 2014 and last year we won on a two-point conversion.”