QB Gabriel Galef talks about Palisades’ 22-21 homecoming victory over Hamilton.
Marrio Lofton talks about his game-winning two-point conversion run versus Hamilton.
Three yards from victory, Palisades High head coach Tim Hyde and offensive coordinator Rocky Montz had ample time to decide which play to run on a critical two-point conversion late in last Friday’s homecoming matchup against Hamilton.
Even throughout an 18-minute delay caused by a power outage at Stadium by the Sea, the thought of playing for overtime by kicking the extra point never once crossed Hyde’s mind. When play resumed, Marrio Lofton plowed across the goal line standing up and the Dolphins hung on for a dramatic 22-21 victory in a contest forever to be remembered in Pali lore as the “Lights Out” game.
“I told Rocky when we got the ball back around the four-minute mark we were going for two no matter what,” Hyde said. “We asked [quarterback] P.J. Hurst what he thought but Rocky had a play in mind and although we considered other options we ultimately stuck with the original call.”
For Lofton, who ran for 70 yards in 12 carries, there was never a doubt he would score.
“It was a power left and it was the plan the entire time that they were giving it to me and I was going to have to take it in,” he said. “I was confident because I’d gotten at least three yards every carry.”
Hurst set up the decisive try by scampering 17 yards for a touchdown to pull the Dolphins within one point with 1:33 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“It was a read and their defense thought I handed it off,” Hurst said. “No one looked to me so I just ran all the way to the end zone. Innocent [Okoh] did a great job of carrying out the fake.”
Hurst hadn’t even made it back to the Dolphins’ sideline when the lights on the south (Temescal) side of the stadium suddenly went out, enveloping half the field in shadow.
“It was the Ravens-49ers Super Bowl all over again,” Hyde joked. “I turned to [Athletic Director] John Achen and said ‘What’s going on? I’m trying to win a game here!”
Hurst admitted it was hard to remain calm during the bizarre sequence of events at such a critical moment in the game.
“It was definitely a shock when the lights went off… we just kept moving around to keep our legs loose and the coaches did a great job of keeping us focused,” he said. “We were brainstorming different ideas when we were waiting for the lights to come back on. We tried to get them to jump offside but they didn’t bite.”
Hurst called timeout and when the teams lined up a second time he took the snap, handed off to Lofton and the Dolphins’ junior tailback did the rest, breaking several arm tackles on his way to the end zone.
“The play was dictated by how the game went,” Hyde said. “We were running the ball well all night in our two-back set, we wanted to go with our strength and the offensive line got a great push.”
Rather than risk a long run back, Hyde instructed kicker Chris Arrue to boot the ball as hard as he could at Hamilton’s front line on the ensuing kickoff. It caromed off a Yankees player, Gabriel Galef pounced on it and just like that Palisades had the ball back.
“It was supposed to be a squib, one of the linemen got in front and it hit his foot,” Galef said. “I dove on it and then Dakota [Hamilton] dove on top of me so no one else would get it.”
The Yankees (3-5 overall, 2-1 in the Western League) had all three of their timeouts left and the Dolphins couldn’t start celebrating until Hurst’s sneak on fourth-and-one finally gave them the first down they needed to run out the clock.
“This was a huge win because we beat a really good football team that was ahead of us in the City rankings,” Hyde said. “The story of the game was missed opportunities but in the end we found a way.”
Hurst completed only one of his first eight pass attempts and ended 6-of-15 for 111 yards with one interception, but his 80 yards rushing kept several drives alive and he showed true grit by re-entering the game after suffering a sprained ankle on the first series of the second half.
“My ankle gave out and we just taped it up a lot on the sideline and I got back out there,” Hurst said.
Galef, Hurst’s backup, ended the drive with a 20-yard touchdown run to give the Dolphins (4-4, 2-1) their first lead, 14-7.
“The O-line did a great job… we started that drive pounding it down their throats with powers and counters,” Galef said. “Then we started going to our veer option stuff. They kept going for the dive so I just pulled it back once and was off for the end zone. I’m just excited that we won.”
For the fourth straight game Palisades allowed the opposition to score on its first possession. Quarterback Armani Rogers, last year’s Western League Player of the Year, capped an eight-play, 75-yard march with a four-yard run.
A defensive stalemate ensued until Stone Maderer broke loose for a 24-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter to pull the Dolphins even.
Maderer gained 75 yards in 13 carries and Okoh, who missed the Dolphins’ first two league games with a leg injury, finished with 95 yards in just eight carries.
Jake Taitelman had two catches for 43 yards, Ryan Ashmore added two receptions for 37 yards and Gersan Osorio had two grabs for 31 yards for Palisades, which snapped the Yankeess’ seven-game league winning streak and avenged a 31-24 road setback last season.
“Losing our league opener to Venice motivated us to not lose again,” Lofton said. “We really wanted this one because we’re at home and also because of how we lost last year.”
Rogers broke made three defenders miss on his way to an 11-yard touchdown run that tied the game 14-14 on the first play of the fourth quarter and Jaques Wilson’s 84-yard punt return gave Hamilton the lead back, 21-14, with 4:34 remaining.
Aaron Butler led the Dolphins with nine tackles, Alec Simpson added eight tackles and a fumble recovery and Willy Rosenfeld, Quinn Perry and Hamilton each had seven tackles. Donald Cook had an interception and defensive tackles Ethan Lewis and Jimmy Reyes each recorded a sack on the elusive Rogers.
“We had 20 or so ex-players here and some of the alumni gave the pre-game talk,” Hyde said. “The reason we went for two is because of the way the game went. I wanted to put the game in the players’ hands and let them decide it. This is the way it’s going to be. Every week is a battle. It goes back to what I told them before the season started: How do you want to be remembered?”
— Steve Galluzzo
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