The harder it is to win, the sweeter the feeling. That’s why last Friday afternoon’s 6-0 victory meant so much to the Palisades frosh/soph football team. Faced with fourth down and nine from their own 20-yard line with two and a half minutes remaining, the Dolphins elected to go for it and quarterback Alan Ferguson ran for a first down. Eight plays later, Vorsper Aiwize took a pitch around right end into the end zone from four yards out for the game’s only score with 27 seconds left and the Dolphins’ defense stopped South Gate on four plays to clinch its first win of the season. The Dolphins game-winning drive took 11 plays and covered 82 yards. Over half of that yardage was gained by Aiwize, a sophomore tailback who carried six successive times for four first downs. Justin Sawai and Trevon Jimenez also had key gains as Palisades ran the same play over and over, attacking the left side of South Gate’s defensive line. “I figured I’d keep running that play until they stopped it,” PaliHi head coach Calvin Parker said. “We were picking up good yardage every time and in case we scored I didn’t want them [South Gate] to have a lot of time left to come back on us.” Both teams had chances to score earlier in the game but couldn’t convert. South Gate (1-3) drove to Palisades’ two-yard line in the first half but the Dolphins held. In the third quarter, the host Rams appeared to score on a 27-yard pass but the touchdown was nullified by a holding penalty. Palisades, meanwhile, also had a touchdown called back. After scoring, Palisades (1-2) attempted a two-point conversion but the snap was fumbled and Ferguson was tackled short of the goal line. South Gate returned the ensuing kickoff to its own 40 yard line but the Dolphins got a sack and forced three incompletions.
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