Football Blanked by Venice, 35-0

For the first quarter and a half the Palisades High varsity football team played on even terms with heavily favored Venice. Jeremy Smith, Lawrence Villasenor and Jonathan Jones intercepted passes by Gondos’ quarterback Alfonso Medina and the Dolphins’ defense played inspired. Unfortunately, the offense was not able to sustain any drives and Palisades suffered another blowout at the hands of its Western League archrival, 35-0, last Friday night at Stadium by the Sea. In 11 possessions the Dolphins (0-7 overall, 0-2 in league) punted eight times and Alex Anastasi was short on a 38-yard field goal to end another drive. For the first time since the season opener, junior Branden Sannet started at quarterback and completed 8 of 20 passes for 106 yards. Joe Brandon rushed 8 times for 57 yards, Malcolm Creer caught two passes for 45 yards, Kevin Mann had three receptions for 23 yards and Aaron Ussery added two catches for 23 yards. “We moved Preon [Morgan] from quarterback to wide receiver in order to give us more options offensively,” Palisades Coach Kelly Loftus said. “We can line him up in a number of positions and his running and catching ability will create problems for other teams.” Venice (6-1, 2-0) exploded for 21 points in the second quarter–ending with an 85-yard punt return by Teondray Caldwell–to build a 28-0 lead by halftime. In their last six meetings, Venice has outscored the Dolphins 250-34. “We knew coming in that Venice was tough but I felt our line was a united front tonight,” Loftus said. “If you believe, you’re dangerous and we’re starting to believe. Our defense is playing as well as anyone we go against.” Inspired by the halftime speech of former Palisades tailback Khalid Stevens, now a freshman at San Diego State, the Dolphins allowed only one touchdown in the second half. “Khalid really fired us up,” Brandon said of his former teammate who ran for over 1,000 yards as a senior last year. “We have a great opportunity next week but we have to play smart.” Palisades travels to University (0-7, 0-2) for a league game Friday at 7 p.m., preceded by the frosh/soph game at 4. Loftus wants his team to spoil the Wildcats’ homecoming and celebrate a win for the first time all season. Morgan led the Dolphins with 10 tackles. Samuel Robertson had nine while Casey Jordan and Devyn Reyes each had eight, Juan Climaco had seven and Villasenor, Max Smith and William Goldberg each had six.