Pali Football Drops Opener

Maybe it was the long bus ride. Maybe it was first-game jitters. Whatever the reason, Palisades High’s varsity football team looked out of sync and was unable to overcome costly mistakes in a 25-10 season-opening loss Friday night at Sylmar. In the debut of new head coach London Woodfin, the Spartans took advantage of Pali’s poor kick coverage to start drives deep in Dolphin territory. ‘Our offensive line needs to do a better job protecting the quarterback and our special teams just weren’t up to par,’ said Pali’s first-year head coach Leo Castro, who did not enjoy his debut nearly as much as his counterpart. ‘We have five running backs that could start on any team in the City. So we can move the ball fine. But when we get in the red zone we have to score.’ Pali’s only touchdown came midway through the fourth quarter on a 99-yard interception return by junior Andre Harris, but it was too little too late. A bright spot for Palisades was the kicking of Dylan Cohen. He booted a 42-yard field goal in the second quarter and had four punts of 45 yards or more. But the Dolphins’ senior quarterback was pressured all game, completing two of seven passes for 12 yards. Anthony Anaebere led Pali’s rushing attack with 12 carries for 63 yards and Robert Gillette added four carries for 40 yards. ‘Our offense was out there 70 percent of the time, we just committed stupid penalties and basically hurt ourselves,’ said Henry Argueta, Pali’s junior linebacker and tight end. ‘They burned us on two long passes but mostly we gave them great field position. It seemed like they began every possession at our 20.’ After a scoreless first quarter, C.J. Gable returned a Palisades punt 61 yards to set up a 33-yard touchdown pass from John Austin to D’Andre Goodwin. Later, Gable returned a kickoff 80 yards to set up a nine-yard scoring run by Marc Alanis that gave Sylmar a 12-3 halftime lead. Gable gained 121 yards in 10 carries, including a 47-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. ‘Coach [Castro] told us after the game that one loss doesn’t make the whole season,’ Pali senior linebacker David Villalobos said. ‘So we can’t hang our heads. We just have to execute better from here on out. If we give Dylan time to throw, he’ll make plays for us.’ In the preceding frosh/soph game, sophomore receiver Jevon Crowder caught touchdown passes of 30 and 50 yards from quarterback Michael Latt as the Dolphins tied host Sylmar 12-12.