Coach Tim Hyde talks about Friday’s 35-7 homecoming win against University.
If Palisades High head football coach Tim Hyde had any fear his team was still down after a disheartening loss to Venice the week before, it disappeared shortly after the opening kickoff of Friday’s homecoming game against University.
Having opened Western League play with back-to-back road games, the Dolphins returned to Stadium by the Sea and gave their fans plenty to cheer about, dominating in every phase and coming away with a 35-7 victory that kept them in the hunt for the league title with two games remaining.
“I think we won this game last week after that Venice heartbreak,” Hyde said. “This was a hungry group. They showed up, they practiced hard, they hit the sleds, they lifted — they did everything they needed to do to prepare and it showed.”
Quarterback P.J. Hurst completed 10 of 14 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns — both to Quincy Cowherd — and running back Desmond Box had 196 yards and two touchdowns for Palisades (5-3, 2-1), which has a Friday afternoon game at first-place Hamilton looming.
Box opened the scoring on a 38-yard run to cap the Dolphins’ second possession and Cowherd’s 11-yard scoring catch from Hurst made it 14-0 with 35 seconds left in the first quarter. Five plays after a sack by Kenny Jones and Alec Simpson that forced the Wildcats to punt from deep in their own territory, Box scored on a 12-yard run to make it 21-0.
“We threw early and when we had to throw to score we did it,” Hyde said. “We know they’re a man-to-man team so we attacked them. If you want to play man, you have to cover five of our guys. Once we established that we took it right to them with the running game.”
University (3-5, 1-2) finally got on the scoreboard just over a minute left in the second quarter on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Paul Davis to Eugene Ford, but that left too much time for Hurst and he took advantage, moving his team from its own 33-yard line to the opposition’s 9. After a penalty, he delivered a pinpoint pass to Cowherd in the corner of the end zone from 18 yards out and the Dolphins took a 28-7 lead into halftime.
Willy Rosenfeld completed the scoring on a two-yard run late in the third quarter.
Palisades’ defense was just as impressive as the offense, intercepting three passes and limiting University tailback Tyrone Nelson to only one carry over 10 yards. Dhaamir Lomax had a 17-yard interception return in the first half and Justin Mason had two takeaways in the second half, returning the second one 23 yards out of the end zone with 1:51 left in the game.
Simpson finished with seven solo and six assisted tackles (two for losses), fellow linebacker Mario Lofton added five solo and four assisted tackles (two for losses) and Mason, E.B. Odeh, Jones and Lomax each had five tackles.
A prime example of the defense’s determination occurred halfway through the fourth quarter. University had a fourth-and-goal at the 2-yard line but Lofton knifed into the backfield to tackle Nelson behind the line of scrimmage and the Dolphins took over on downs.
“Our guys wanted that last stop, they wanted to hold them to seven — especially a team that beat Venice,” Hyde said. “It was a solid night overall. Outside of one big run we held them in check all night long.”
Palisades’ special teams unit also shined, led by kicker Ethan Erickson, who bounced back from a subpar performance against Venice to drive all six of his kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks and go five-for-five on point-after tries.
— Steve Galluzzo
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