PaliHi Football Kicks Off Tomorrow

Season Opener at El Camino Real Starts at 7 p.m.

Coming off a historic turnaround in 2010, storylines are aplenty for the Palisades High football team heading into the 2011 season, which gets underway tomorrow at 7 p.m. at El Camino Real.   Following a 7-6 record and a run to the Division II City Section play’offs that ended with a 35-28 loss to Chatsworth, Pali graduated a number of the team’s top skill players whose production needs to be replaced. That said, the Dolphins have had a full year’and offseason’getting acquainted with head coach Perry Jones’ triple-option offense, which should be invaluable.   Meanwhile, Pali’s schedule features games against some of the top teams in the Southland, including Vista Murrieta and Crespi, and the Dolphins have moved up to Division I starting this year.   All of the action should make for another interesting season at the Stadium by the Sea.   ’We graduated a lot of key players,’ Jones said. ‘Our skill level is probably down a bit, but what we lost in skill, we make up for with ex’perience running the offense. We’re much more solid scheme-wise, because the offense was brand-new and took us a long time to get. Things are now more thorough installment-wise and that’s an asset.’   Senior quarterback and captain Nathan Dodson will handle the lions’ share of orchestrating the Pali offense.   Though aided by backup quarter’back Kevin Acosta (who played quarterback on the JV team last sea’son) and Adrian Romero (a speedy senior who presents more of a verti’cal threat), the duties of reading defenses and deciding who gets the ball from the triple-option look will fall primarily on Dodson. In 2010, he was used in games as a passing threat to spell Ke’monte Reed; in the spring, the 5-10, 185-pound Dodson joined the track team last spring and improved his overall speed and quickness. He sounds primed to take over starting duties.   ’Nate has natural strong points, starting with his leadership ability,’ Jones said of Dodson. ‘He’s very calm, he doesn’t get rattled very eas’ily and he has experience with the offense that he brings to the table.   ’Track had a really good effect. He’s faster, his quickness has come up and his overall physical conditioning is better, and he’s a more efficient runner,’ Jones continued. ‘He’s really worked on his footwork for running the option, making reads and has done really well. He should help us have a more balanced attack.’   At running back, the Dolphins should have a deep rotation, led by 5-8 senior Arte’ Miura and 6-2 Ben Ingram, who played at receiver primarily last season. Both sprinted for Jones’ track team last spring.   At fullback, a hugely important position in Jones’ offense, there are three players who could see action: junior Justin Sinclair and seniors Mylz Blake and Eric Jackson. During the team’s scrimmage against Kilpatrick last Friday, it was Sinclair who gashed the opposition, as Dod’son relied on the fullback-dive read heavily. Jones estimated Sinclair gained over 100 yards in the game.   Rounding out the receiving corps, the starting tight end will likely be 6-1, 208-pound senior Michael Mell, while 6-1 junior receiver Dosh Franks and his speed on the outside could provide a consistent long-ball threat for Dodson.   This summer, Jones has emphasized shoring up the defense. Following a season where offensive shootouts were commonplace’the Dolphins allowed an average of 32 points in their final six games’the need to improve defensively was paramount.   ’Offensively, we think we’re going to get it to go, but we don’t think it will matter if we can’t stop anybody,’ said Jones, pointing out wins against Hamilton (63-36) and Poly (50-40) a year ago. ‘That’s way too many points and a lot of pressure to put on the offense to keep scoring, especially because so many things can go wrong in a finesse-type offense. So we really worked on defense in the off-season.’   That started by taking two offensive starters last year’Roman Thomas (left tackle) and Chris Rose (left guard)’and moving them to the defensive line in hopes of setting the tone for the rest of the unit.   ’We decided, ‘Let’s take our biggest, strongest offensive linemen and build a defense around them, and see if we can shore things up a little bit,’ Jones said. ‘We couldn’t stop anyone last year and we feel like the guys on the offensive line are developing well enough to [have two separate offensive and defensive lines].’   In addition, senior Corey Rich’ardson (6-2, 215-pounds) could be a force as an edge rusher, given his size, speed and football instincts.   In sum, the changes and im’prove’ments along the defensive line have been vast. Dolphin coaches attended an off-season coaching clinic with Cal defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi to help improve overall technique, not to mention the sheer size and strength of the line.   ’These are different type of kids than we’ve had,’ said Jones, pointing to the 315-pound lifting and 405-pound squatting marks amongst the defensive linemen. ‘We’ve had kids that were strong, but not that strong. They worked very hard in off-season and it really took off.’   The linebacking corps looks stout, led by last year’s team leader in tackles, senior Victor Garcia. He could be joined by senior fullbacks Mylz Blake at linebacker and Jackson (defensive back), players who may see more time of that side of the ball, as the team continues to emphasis defense.   Given Pali’s tough schedule this year, that emphasis seems well founded. But Jones feels all his players can gain from the experience in these difficult games.   ’Our kids are going to learn from seeing those other programs,’ he said. ‘How they take the field, how they respond to coaches, what they do at time out, kids see all that stuff. And that contributes to the overall success of a program. Now you see kids understand what winning is and how to have success. They start to emulate that and they respond to it.   ’Last year’s group got a huge return on playing Vista (Murrieta). They carried that into the playoffs, and having success against those good teams, that carried through to our offseason. It was like the wind was at our back, we were pushing and pushing and the kids kept elevating their performance.’   Tomorrow, the Dolphins will likely need to continue to elevate their performance, especially on defense, as El Camino sports senior running back Kawan Rally, who rushed for over 1,500 yards and 20 touchdowns last year. The 5-10, 230-pound runner ran for 225 yards and four touchdowns in ECR’s 48-7 win last week over North Hollywood and bringing him down is a tall task.   '(Rally) is really an incredible running back,’ Jones said. ‘If you don’t hit him, he’s going to run you over. He’s just a bull. And he can still juke you . . . They still have plenty of other good players and they’re well coached. But Kawan is a man playing a boys’ game, he’s that good.’   The opener against the Conquistators should foretell plenty about the season ahead for Pali.   ’This is a huge test of where we’re at,’ Jones said. ‘Huge. Defensively, we felt like we didn’t get it done last year, so we restructured our defense and simplified it. We want to let our athletes play, but teach them good technique and leverage. And we’re feeling good and hoping for the best.   ’We’ve coalesced as a team, maybe more so than last year’s squad,’ he continued. ‘They had the old ideology and now that’s gone. This team has something to sink its teeth into and it’s really a supportive group. They push each other, hold each other accountable and are a real pleasure to be around.’