Football Falls One Point Short

Blocked Extra Point Preserves 36-35 Win for El Camino Real

With his team trailing by one point and 11 seconds left on the clock last Friday evening, Palisades High head coach Perry Jones had a difficult decision–either kick the extra point and most likely send the game into overtime or go for the two-point conversion and the win. Not hesitating a second, Jones sent out his kicking team for the point-after touchdown, knowing the Dolphins had all of the momentum after driving 54 yards in 53 seconds for the score that had pulled them to within one point. The snap was good, Kevin Mann’s hold was also good and senior placekicker Alex Anastasi was certain that his kick would have been good too had it not been for El Camino Real junior Kawan Rally, who broke through the line of scrimmage, jumped, and batted the ball to the turf–a heartbreaking end to an inspired effort by a determined school of Dolphins. “I just bull-rushed and got my right hand on the ball,” said Rally, who also rushed for 126 yards and scored El Camino Real’s first four touchdowns. “I was expecting it to be a tough game. We were down at halftime, but we just weren’t going to lose.” The Dolphins had one last chance to recover the ensuing onside kick, but officials ruled that a Palisades player touched the ball before it traveled the necessary 10 yards. Knowing the Dolphins were out of timeouts, El Camino Real quarterback Travis Moss took a knee to run off the final seconds and allow the heavily-favored Conquistadores escaped with a 36-35 victory. “I didn’t consider it [going for two],” said Jones, who admitted his debut was both nerve-racking and exhilarating. “I felt if we tried the same play we had earlier that they would pick up on it, so I didn’t want to risk it. I was confident we could hold them and kick a field goal.” Palisades’ first-string quarterback Branden Sanett threw three touchdown passes–the last a 34-yard bullet to wideout Ben Ingram, who made the catch over the middle, deked a defender and outraced two El Camino Real safeties to the end zone, sending the home fans at Stadium by the Sea into a frenzy. “Turnovers and penalties are ultimately what killed us,” Sanett said. “I knew that if we could just get to overtime that we would win because at that point everything was going our way. Our O-line blocked great. No way was that team better than us.” Early in the game, Palisades looked like the team that was expected to win. After forcing a three-and-out on El Camino Real’s first series, the Dolphins took over at their own 48-yard line and proceeded to drive 52 yards in six plays, capped by Sanett’s 21-yard pass to Turner Hanley, who leaped over a pair of defenders in the end zone to put the Dolphins on the scoreboard. Then, after Arte Miura’s 65-yard kickoff return set the Dolphins up on the opposition’s 24-yard line, second-string quarterback Nathan Dodson lofted a touch pass to Hanley in the corner of the end zone for a 12-yard score and Palisades (0-1) went to the locker room leading 14-6. El Camino Real (1-1) scored twice early in the second half to take a brief 21-14 lead, but Malcolm Creer found a seam in the Conquistadores’ coverage and returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown that tied the game 21-21 with 2:38 left in the third quarter. Rally powered across the goal line to put the visitors back in front, 29-21, but Sanett answered with a three-yard touchdown toss to Paul Logan and Creer ran for the two-point conversion to knot the score, 29-29. “The thing that I’m most proud of is that we kept our heads on defense,” Dolphins’ senior linebacker Hakeem Jawanza said. “Even when they scored, we kept playing hard. We kept up the intensity, got some stops and forced some turnovers.” Using its vaunted double wing formation, El Camino Real drove 80 yards in nine plays, scoring on a 10-yard run by Kyndric Naope to take a 36-29 lead with 1:14 remaining. However, Palisades’ wishbone offense proved equally difficult to defend. Laurence Villasenor was knocked out of bounds at the 29-yard line after a 10-yard catch-and-run, but an illegal procedure penalty pushed the Dolphins back to the Conquistadores’ 34, setting the stage for Ingram’s touchdown catch. “This was a good game to test our mettle,” Jones said. “We’re a very resilient bunch so maybe this will help get their attention in practice. Little things can add up to a lot in close games like this, but I’m pleased with our effort.” * * * * * In a hard-hitting defensive struggle, Coach Ray Marsden’s frosh/soph squad pulled to within two points with 7:15 left in the fourth quarter on Jack Jordan’s 58-yard run and his subsequent extra-point kick, but the Dolphins were unable to score again and El Camino Real hung on for a 16-14 victory. Quarterback Elijah Thomas rushed for 78 yards, including a 2-yard score, and completed 5 of 13 passes for 74 yards for the host Dolphins (0-1), who lost at home for the first time in Marsden’s two seasons. * * * * * Palisades hosts Santa Monica on Thursday and will attempt to turn the tide against the Vikings, who have won the last six meetings by an average of 27.3 points and hold a 16-6-2 lead in the intersectional rivalry that began in 1979. The frosh/soph game kicks off at 4 p.m., followed by the varsity game at 7 p.m. at Stadium by the Sea.