Palisades Loses Fourth Straight Game; Fails to Qualify for Invitational Playoffs
Any hopes the Palisades High varsity football team had of sneaking into the City Section playoffs ended after the first 24 minutes of last Friday night’s game at University High. True to their nickname, the Wildcats ran wild on Palisades in the first quarter’particularly senior tailback Trayon Harris, who turned several broken plays into long gains and accounted for nearly all of his team’s offense in the first half of a 42-14 win. “They started red hot and that No. 5 was incredible,” Palisades High Head Coach Kelly Loftus said, referring to Harris. “He must have rushed for 150 yards by halftime and a lot of that he did on his own. Even when it looked like we had him trapped in the backfield, he somehow got away.” Harris scored to give University a quick lead and Palisades was unable to answer. Two turnovers by the Dolphins’on a fumble and an interception’led to 14 more points in the second quarter and University took a 21-0 lead into halftime. The Dolphins (2-8 overall, 1-4 in league) played even with University in the second half’both teams scoring twice’but by then the damage was done. Just like that, the regular season was over and, after the next morning’s seeding meeting, the Dolphins found themselves on the outside looking in. Western League champion Venice was seeded No. 3 and Westchester No. 15 in the championship playoffs, while Fairfax, University and Hamilton all made the Invitational division. “We had to win to have a chance of making the playoffs and we didn’t win,” Loftus said. “It’s as simple as that.” Still, Loftus was encouraged by the play of junior safety Khalid Stevens, who made seven solo tackles, and freshman quarterback Conner Preston, who played with poise in his first varsity start. “I’m excited to have both of those guys coming back,” Loftus said. “Khalid was unbelievable in the secondary and Conner did a really nice job under the circumstances. I was very impressed.” Brandon Quarles scored on a 35-yard run early in the third quarter and Preston threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Gerald Ingram on the Dolphins’ next possession to pull Palisades within 21-14, but Harris ran back the ensuing kickoff and the Wildcats tacked on a fourth-quarter touchdown to pad their lead. Loftus named Preston the starter on Wednesday when it became clear that senior Michael Latt, injured early in the fourth quarter of Pali’s previous game against Venice, would not be able to play. Seeing how well Preston handled the pressure, Loftus wishes his team had passed more against the Wildcats, who stacked the line of scrimmage to plug the Dolphins’ running lanes. “We made some blocking adjustments at halftime and that helped,” Loftus said. “We went to a zone and we started to out-hit them in the second half. In retrospect, I would’ve tried to throw a little more to keep them guessing.” Loftus is already looking ahead to next season but believes there are lessons to be learned from this one. “I’m disappointed in some things that I didn’t do,” Loftus said. “I didn’t prepare the team well at times. I’m a rookie coach and I’m learning as I go. At the same time, I think some of our players need to work harder too.”
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