Road Warriors

Palisades Finishes Nonleague Slate with 30-13 Victory over Harvard-Westlake

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

After opening the season with four straight home games, the Palisades High varsity football team made its first road trip Friday night  and the Dolphins proved they can win no matter what field they play  on by defeating Harvard-Westlake 30-13 in Studio City.

“It wasn’t pretty but I’ll take the win,” Dolphins head coach Dylen Smith said. “There’s a lesson to be learned and that is we can’t afford to play down to their level. We have league coming up and we’ll need to step it up in practice starting now.”

The Dolphins improved to 4-1 and got back on the winning track after a demoralizing overtime loss to Brentwood in the teams’ annual Sunset Showdown the week before.    

“It was important to come here and get the W,” senior linebacker Jake Treibatch said. “We respected them, they’re not a bad team but given who we’ve played thus far we’re not unfamiliar with the Wing T—as a defense we know this type of offense and how to stop it.”

Similar to the Dolphins’ first three opponents Harvard-Westlake relied heavily on the running game, which Palisades bottled up thanks to swift lateral pursuit by Treibatch and fellow linebackers Rowan Flynn, Cash Allen Brayden Khani and penetration by linemen Jack Tobin, Kenneth Sanchez, Dylan Nazarian and Joseph Bucher-leighton. In fact,

Wolverines quarterback attempted only 11 passes but one of them was a six-yard touchdown to Solomon Moore in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, Palisades quarterback Jack Thomas was consistently able to escape the pocket to deliver the ball downfield or scramble for first downs. He read an all-out blitz and delivered a 20-yard strike to wide receiver Max Hejazi in the end zone to cap the Dolphins’ first drive. After forcing a punt Palisades got the ball back and King Demethris made a dazzling one-handed grab along the sideline to move Palisades into the red zone. Tailback Harrison Carter weaved his way through the defense for a 12-yard score on the first play of the second quarter to make it 13-0.          

Palisades clung to a six-point lead when a series of events turned the game decisively in its favor in the waning moments of the first half. After the Dolphins marched to the 9-yard line, a sack and two penalties pushed them back, but kicker Jack Mallow split the uprights on a 42-yard field goal to salvage valuable points. It appeared the Wolverines might answer on their ensuing drive, but Palisades’ defense stiffened and forced a punt attempt. A poor snap caused the punter’s knee to touch the ground before the kick could be made, giving the Dolphins the ball back at the opponents’ 33-yard line with  90 seconds left until intermission. Following an incomplete pass, Thomas made the home team pay for its miscue with a nifty touchdown run to up the lead to 23-7.

Harvard-Westlake (2-3) entered the game with momentum having beaten Royal 25-14 the previous week and came out fired up for the second half, putting together a 17-play, 80-yard drive that consumed over nine minutes and trimmed the Wolverines’ deficit to 10 points. All that did was motivate the Dolphins, who moved the chains thanks to a clutch 11-yard gain on fourth down by LeHenry Solomon, who took a direct snap in the Wildcat formation and slipped out of several tackles to pick up the necessary yardage.  Five plays later, a hobbling Thomas ignored a leg cramp to roll left and find Hejazi wide open for a 13-yard touchdown which made it a three-score gap early in the fourth quarter.      

Palisades’ swarming defense took over from there, forcing two punts and then a turnover on downs in the Wolverines’ last three possessions.   

“A hue part of it is the defensive line,” said Treibatch, who resembled a whirlwind all over the field while leading the Dolphins with 17 tackles and a pass deflection. “They allow me to do what I do. You don’t want to spend too much time in the L’s, you want to be in the W’s more.”    

Defensive Coordinator Jack Beck  praised his unit for not surrendering any points in the fourth quarter but warned this is no time to slack off with the real season about to begin.   

Palisades and Harvard-Westlake were meeting for the first time since splitting a home-and-home set back in 2013 and 2014—the Dolphins’ first two seasons under former coach Tim Hyde. The boys in blue spoiled the Wolverines’ homecoming with a 45-18 upset in the first encounter but Harvard-Westlake got revenge the following year with a 37-21 triumph at Stadium by the Sea.

Palisades has a bye this week and travels to Fairfax next Friday night for its Western League opener.

Through five games Thomas has passed for 1,010 yards and 13 touchdowns with only one interception. He is also the second leading rusher with 270 yards and three scores. Solomon and Demethris each have 17 receptions and Hejazi has 15.     

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