Frosh/Soph

Palisades High frosh/soph head football coach Ray Marsden had treats waiting for his players at nutrition on Monday: doughnuts. They were symbolic of the zero points the Dolphins’ defense allowed in last Friday’s 8-0 win over Venice–the team’s most impressive victory of the season. “This was by far our best team effort–everyone contributed,” Marsden said. “It was another awesome defensive effort. That’s been our trademark all year and our guys came up big again.” The outcome was still in doubt until Bryce McSorley tipped a pass and Spencer Sawaii intercepted the ball at Palisades’ 15-yard line in the frenzied final seconds. Venice had not crossed the 50-yard line all game but had a first-and-goal at the 6, but safety Kristian Hawkins blitzed and tackled the Gondos’ running back for a 9-yard loss. “I just saw it floating in mid-air so I grabbed it,” Sawaii said of his game-saving interception. Sawaii had already picked off a pass in the third quarter and Tyler Hildreth also had an interception for the Dolphins (6-1 overall, 2-0 in Western League). “This felt good because a lot of us know their players and we wanted to leave a taste in their mouths that we can and we will beat them the next three years,” said Nathan Dodson, who played the first half at quarterback despite battling the flu all week. Palisades drove inside the 10-yard-line twice in the first half but had no points to show for it. The first time, the Dolphins missed a field goal the first time and were stopped on downs the next time. After Victor Garcia recovered a fumble early in the fourth quarter, Jauan Tate scampered 18 yards to score on a quarterback draw and the 0-0 tie was broken. The snap was high on the point-after try but Dodson’s lateral was deflected into the arms of Corey Richardson, who dragged several tacklers into the end zone for a 8-0 lead. Thanks to Palisades’ stout defense, one touchdown was all the scoring the offense would need. “We work on swarming and gang tackling every day in practice so it’s nice to see that same intensity on game day,” Marsden said. “It was one of those games decided on a few plays. Fortunately, we were able to make them.”