Polishing Off the Parrots

Dolphins Win 50-40, Advance to City Division II Semifinals

The last time Palisades High was still playing football after Thanksgiving, the seniors on this year’s team were barely old enough to carve a turkey. Perhaps that is why the Dolphins seemed to savor every morsel of last Friday’s 50-40 City Section Division II quarterfinal romp over host Sun Valley Poly’ for whatever they do from here on out is pure gravy. The victory ensured the Dolphins their first winning season since 2000, when they went 8-3 and lost to Birmingham in the first round of the reached the City Invitational semifinals. The second-seeded Parrots (9-3) simply had no answer for Palisades’ wishbone attack, which sliced through the Poly defense like a warm knife through butter. Malcolm Creer rushed for 162 yards and three touchdowns in just eight carries, Hakeem Jawanza had 145 yards and one touchdown in a mere six carries and Arte’ Miura added 98 yards and one touchdown in eight carries for the Dolphins, who piled up 434 offensive yards. “The Poly game taught us to believe’ believe in special teams and the offense that we can come up with big plays when we need them,” Jones said. “It taught us perseverance and that if we want it bad enough we can take it.” The seventh-seeded Dolphins (7-5) feasted on numerous Poly miscues to build a 36-20 halftime lead and led by at least two scores the rest of the way. Nathan Dodson threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Mann, Kemonte Reed ran for a short touchdown, Brian Brewer intercepted a pass and Kolmus Iheanacho made seven solo tackles for Palisades. Kevin Ervin ran for 316 yards and four touchdowns in 28 carries and Edgar Alejandro added 138 yards and two touchdowns in 22 carries for Poly, which pulled to within 43-34 in the fourth quarter before the Dolphins put the game away with a late touchdown. Poly needed just three plays to score on its first possession, but the Dolphins answered on their first drive and tacked on another score at the end of the first quarter to lead, 15-7. The Parrots crept to within 23-20 in the second quarter but Palisades got two more scores before halftime. This is the furthest Palisades has advanced in the playoffs since 1999 when it lost to Gardena, 46-20, in the City Invitational semifinals. Awaiting the Dolphins in this year’s round of four Friday night is sixth-seeded Chatsworth (10-2), which beat No. 14 Panorama, 35-28, last week. “They’re well coached, they run the ball out of a spread formation and defensively their linebackers read the play very well,” Jones said. “They run a Cover 3 so hopefully we’ll be able to exploit some things. They’re a lot like us, a rebuilding program and I expect a tough game.” Palisades is the lower seed so the Dolphins will be on the road again. Kickoff is 7 p.m. Friday at Chatsworth High. Tomorrow’s winner meets the Arleta-Fairfax winner in the finals December 10 at East L.A. College.