Pali High Football Falls at San Pedro

Dolphins’ Season Ends Abruptly with 13-10 Defeat in City Division I Quarterfinals

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

As the final seconds ticked off the clock last Friday night,  Palisades High players stood on their sideline in stunned silence. They could hardly believe their season was over after battling so hard for four quarters, only to find themselves on the short end of a 13-10 score against powerhouse San Pedro in the quarterfinals of the City Division I playoffs.

More often than not, games between evenly matched teams are decided not by a bunch of big plays, rather by a few small mistakes and that was the final lesson learned by these Dolphins (9-3), who had their winningest season since 1999.

“Missed opportunities is all,” Pali High Coach Tim Hyde told his white-clad warriors in the huddle after post-game handshakes. “We got in the red zone three times tonight and didn’t score. We had two turnovers and they had none, but I cannot be disappointed with anything because we came on the road and lost to the No. 3-ranked team in the City. It’s been an honor to coach you guys.  These last three weeks we proved we can play with the big boys.”

Palisades ended the regular season by beating archrival Venice for the first time since 2000, then crushed 11-time champion Carson 41-0 in the first round Nov. 10. The Dolphins were confident they could slay their third City giant on Friday and they almost did.

“That’s the second-best front seven we’ve played in the last two years,” Hyde said with optimism. “We brought 47 kids tonight and 30 are coming back next year. JV Coach Ray Marsden has run the best program in league for three years, so we’ll get more of his kids. I like where we’re headed.”

Clinging to a three-point lead late in the fourth quarter, the host Pirates (10-2) completed a fourth-down pass at their 29 to move the chains and, with Palisades’ supply of timeouts exhausted, salted the victory away on Sean Davenport’s seven-yard run on third-and-four. Two kneel downs by quarterback Austin Jackson finally punched San Pedro’s ticket to the semifinals against No. 2-seeded Dorsey.

Innocent Okoh showed why he leads all Division I rushers, scoring Palisades’ touchdown on a five-yard run in the first quarter.   

“Okoh was our No. 1 priority coming in, because their run-pass ratio is 4-1 run,” Pirates first-year coach Corey Miller said. “Watching film I could see they have the best offensive line we’ve seen and they could’ve easily been a top 4 seed. Palisades is the real deal and I give them a lot of credit. Defense is what won it for us tonight.”

After each team punted on its first possession, Palisades marched into San Pedro territory before defensive back Corey Fuasto scooped up a fumble by Marrio Lofton and returned it 61 yards up the sideline for the game’s first touchdown.

The sixth-seeded Dolphins drove 49 yards in eight plays, tying it 7-7 on Okoh’s 19th rushing touchdown of the season.

Tanner Carcamo made a 31-yard field goal to give the Pirates a 10-7 lead on the first play of the second quarter and that remained the score at halftime, thanks in part to defensive back Mikey Hernandez intercepting a long Jonah Manheim pass at San Pedro’s 13.

Jake Taitelman’s 22-yard field goal pulled Palisades even again at 10-10 early in the third quarter as the defenses began to assert themselves.

On its next drive, San Pedromarched to the Dolphins’ 23-yard line. Palisades held, but Carcamo lined a 40-yard field goal through the uprights that put the Pirates ahead to stay.

“Starting in the second quarter we tried to speed it up and go no-huddle and we were executing on all cylinders,” Manheim said. “We just hurt ourselves. This was a very winnable game and it hurts we’re not the team moving on.”

Manheim and Tommy Beattie combined to complete only two of 16 passes for 53 yards, both to tight end Quinn Perry, but the Dolphins gained 180 yards on the ground, led by Okoh’s 132 in five carries.

“He’s been our workhorse all season and he’s gotten it done,” Manheim added. “Having a guy like him to hand off to makes my job so much easier!”

Dakotah Hamilton led the defense with 15 tackles, Perry had 12 (including a sack) and Donald Cook and Jimmy Reyes each had eight.

“This was a year we can build on,” Hyde said. “We’re back-to-back league champs and we won our first Division I playoff game since 1997. I’ll take it!”