For the fifth time in five seasons under head coach Tim Hyde, the Palisades High football team is in the City Section Division I playoffs and for the second straight season the Dolphins will host a first-round game.
Palisades, seeded third in the 16-team bracket, will play No. 14 Canoga Park tonight at 7 at Stadium by the Sea.
“Canoga Park is well-coached and watching them on film they look a lot like the teams we faced in nonleague games my first three years and all three of them were competitive,” Hyde said. “We’re really excited to be hosting a playoff game again, we know this is a new season and we can’t wait to get underway.”
If seedings hold up, Palisades would host sixth-seeded Dorsey, last year’s Division I finalist, in the quarterfinals and travel to No. 2 South Gate in the semifinals—a rematch of a Week 4 meeting that the Rams won, 32-31. Valley Mission League winner San Fernando is the No. 1 seed and wouldn’t play the Dolphins until the finals.
“The goal at first was to make the Open Division (consisting of the top eight teams in Div. I). Losing to Venice took us out of that,” receiver Alex Vaupen said. “This way we won’t have long bus rides. Everyone thinks we can go all the way and that’s what I expect.”
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