Eight Dolphins Make All-City Football List

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Eight Palisades High football players made the All-City Open Division team—two on offense, five on defense and one on special teams.   

Lorenzo Hernandez of runner-up Garfield was voted Coach of the Year, offensive lineman Jonah Tauanu’u of champion Narbonne was named Player of the Year, quarterback Jason Artiga of Birmingham was named Offensive Player of the Year, Garfield linebacker Nicholas Delgado was named Defensive Player of the Year, Narbonne’s Tilini Livai was selected Offensive Lineman of the Year and Narbonne’s Jordan Banks was selected Defensive Lineman of the Year. Eagle Rock’s Edson Zamarron was named Kicker of the Year.

Junior Tommy Meek’s hang time was a big reason why the Dolphins earned an Open Division berth and tied for the Western Leagur title. He was named City Punter of the Year after booming 27 kicks for 1,125 yards (an average of 41.7 per punt), with a long of 55 versus Venice and eight placed inside the opponents’ 20-yard line.

Max Palees made the first team offense after rushing 175 times for 1,176 yards and nine touchdowns, an average of 6.7 yards per carry and 117.6 per game.

Sophomore lineman Nick Calcaterra (6-foot-5, 305 pounds) made the second team on offense after leading the Dolphins with a whopping 66 pancake blocks in 11 games.

Cornerback Jake Nadley made the first team defensive unit after making 43 tackles with a team-best six interceptions, five pass deflections and a fumble recovery.    

Four Dolphins made the defensive second team: safety Will Janney, who had 40 tackles, six pass deflections, five interceptions and one sack; linebacker Sy Riley, who had a team-high 110 tackles (21.5 for losses) and returned an interception for a touchdown; linebacker Noah Ghodooshim, who had 63 tackles (13 for losses), three deflections and an interception; and defensive end Jack Stansell (6-foot-3, 245 pounds), who had 51 tackles (16 for losses), a team-best 5.5 sacks, three deflections and a fumble recovery. Three weeks earlier Stansell was named Western League Defensive Lineman of the Year.