Football Dealt Historic Loss

Palisades High’s varsity football team set a record at last Friday night’s homecoming game, just not the kind anyone associated with the program will be proud of. The Dolphins’ 24-6 loss at the hands of Fairfax made them the first team in school history to lose nine games in one season. What was supposed to be an evening of celebration for Dolphin seniors quickly turned into a night they would just as soon forget. It marked the fifth time in 10 games that Palisades failed to score an offensive touchdown. The Dolphins’ lone score in their season finale came on a 99-yard kickoff return in the second quarter by Anthony Anaebere. That was not nearly enough to prevent Palisades (1-9, 0-5) from finishing in the Western League basement for the second time in four years. Derrick Hill led the Lions with 112 yards and two touchdowns in 22 carries. With the win, Fairfax (5-5, 4-1) finished second in league and earned the No. 3 seed in the City Invitational playoffs. League champion Venice (8-2, 5-0) was seeded No. 4 in the City championship playoffs, reserved for the top 16 teams in the City Section. Playing without senior quarterback Dylan Cohen, who had to sit out his third game with a bruised hip, Palisades was able to muster little offense ands spotted the visitors an 18-0 lead. The Dolphins had extra time to rest and regroup at halftime due to homecoming festivities, but it didn’t seem to help. Palisades was forced to punt on its first drive of the third quarter and Fairfax scored on the ensuing possession to end the competitive phase of the game. Back-up quarterbacks Stephen Collins and Robert Gillette attempted only 11 passes for Palisades. The Dolphins rushed 16 times for 116 yards, the majority of that by junior tailback Andre Harris, who was neutralized by the Lions’ seven- and eight-man fronts. Harris finished the season as Pali’s leading rusher with 693 yards and four touchdowns in 103 carries, an average of 6.7 yards a carry. Brandon Bryant was Pali’s top receiver with 17 catches for 273 yards. Defensively, David Villalobos led the team with 57 tackles and Greg Hollis added 45. Christian Clark had a team-high 11 sacks and Bryant made a team-high six interceptions. Despite missing most of the last three games due to injury, Cohen completed 39 of 89 pass attempts for 492 yards and averaged 40 yards per punt. After notching its only victory’a 14-12 triumph over Los Angeles on September 24’Palisades lost its final seven games by an average of 23 points. The Dolphins last missed the playoffs in 2001 when they went 1-7 and finished last in the Western League. The only time a Palisades team failed to win a game was 1961, the year the school opened, when the Dolphins lost all eight games they played and were shut out five times.