Dolphins Take Step Back in 44-15 Loss

The Palisades High football team experienced the other end of the spectrum last Friday night when it hosted Santa Monica High. A week after routing Marshall in its season-opener, the Dolphins were trounced by the Vikings, 44-15, in front of a packed stadium.

Trailing 30-7 at halftime, PaliHi calmed things in the second half as both teams’ regulars rested in the fourth quarter and Dolphins backup qarterback P.J. Hurst played well in relief of Taylor Mensik, running for a 15-yard touchdown in the closing minutes.

Pali’s first-year head coach Tim Hyde chose to look at the positives, noting his team did not back down from a formidable Southern Section foe as it prepared to play four consecutive road games, three against non-Western League opponents, before league play begins on October 11 at Fairfax.

“We’re going to learn from this and get better, like I told our kids,” Hyde said. “We’ll watch film tomorrow and the Santa Monica game will be over with. Our kids worked their tails off and battled like crazy. They played with a tremendous amount of heart, especially in the fourth quarter when they kept coming at [Santa Monica].”

Though there were no gaudy stats a week after the Dolphins rushed for over 300 yards against Marshall (240 of those from senior tailback Joey Velez), this was a chance for the Dolphins to measure themselves against a top-notch opponent. Velez provided the lone big play of the evening when he broke a 78-yard touchdown run in the final seconds of the third quarter to make the score 30-7.

Unfortunately for PaliHi on this night, many of the good things it did were offset by big plays by Santa Monica and Dolphin turnovers. The Vikings’ Kevin Persons returned one of his two interceptions of Mensik for 71 yards to make it 27-0, and an earlier fumble on a kickoff by junior Lofton Mason set up another SamoHi touchdown.

Defensively, the Dolphins struggled to stop the run as senior Kwame Duggins scored a pair of rushing touchdowns and senior captain Will Taylor added another. Both backs found plenty of room between the tackles.

“We’ve just got to focus on getting better,” Hyde said. “Game two is seeing where your heart is and where your conditioning is, and that’s why we play a game like Santa Monica. You play these games to see where your kids are as you prepare for Western League play.”

The Dolphins face Canoga Park tomorrow night at 7 p.m. and then play at Granada Hills, a team they defeated on the road last season, 20-12. They travel to Harvard-Westlake on Saturday, October 5, for a 7 p.m. kickoff.