By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
Players on the Palisades High junior varsity football squad didn’t get donuts this week, but last Friday’s 27-8 nonleague win at Huntington Park tasted sweet.
Coming off the bye week, the Dolphins looked sharp and prepared, the product of nine days of practice.
Max Palees ran for the first touchdown of the game. Jake Nadley threw two touchdown passes, scored on a quarterback sneak and made an interception on defense as Palisades built a 27-0 lead.
“This was definitely our best effort so far but we still didn’t get four good quarters in,” Pali High Coach Ray Marsden said. “We began emptying the bench in the third quarter to give all of the kids a chance to play. Even at 27-0 I didn’t feel the game was over. To their credit, they never quit and kept playing hard to the end. Our kids wanted the shutout and were upset they didn’t get it. They wanted donuts on Monday.”
Nadley completed seven of 10 passes, including scoring strikes to tight end Noah Ghodooshim and Jack O’Rourke, who also had a sack on defense.
“It was like night and day on special teams, “ Marsden added. “Our kicker Tommy Meek made three of his four extra points and we had nine practices in between games, which allowed us to work on a lot of things.”
Palees, Will Clifford and Darion Robinson shared the load at running back behind center Malcolm Prophit and middle linebacker Sy Riley returned to wreak havoc in the Spartans’ bacfield and in the secondary.
“Jake [Nadley] was awesome managing the huddle and the clock and choosing the correct receiver,” Marsden said. “Our conditioning was a lot better, but we’re still committing too many turnovers and not getting enough takeaways on defense ourselves. Moving forward, I want to go to a faster tempo. We have five two-way starters but the ninth graders need to step up a little more.”
Isaac Salzman and Adrian Cooper also came back to contribute.
Palisades (2-2) wraps up nonleague play against Chatsworth (0-4) on Friday afternoon at Stadium by the Sea, where the Dolphins have yet to win this season.
“Last year and the year before we were undefeated at home and I know protecting our house is something the kids really took pride in,” Marsden said. “It’s also crucial to get above .500 heading into league.
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