Juking the Jaguars

Penalty Prone Dolphins Outscore South East 35-32 in First Round of City Division I Playoffs

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Having received the No. 5 seed in the City Section Division I playoffs the Palisades High football team hosted No. 12 South East in the first round last Friday night at Stadium by the Sea and the schools’ first postseason meeting was rightly one for the books.

Junior Jack Thomas completed 14 of 26 passes for 227 yards and four touchdowns—three of them to Max Hejazi—and Nico Townsley returned the opening kickoff 65 yards for another score as the Dolphins lived to swim another day with a 35-32 triumph. At times, Palisades was its own worst enemy, racking up nearly 200 yards in penalties, but every time a stop was needed the defense came through,  led by linebackers Jake Treibatch (nine tackles) and Cash Allen (seven) and cornerback Connor Petoyan (six).

After Townsley’s runback and Jack Malloy’s point-after made it 7-0 only 12 seconds into the contest the Jaguars showed they would not   go down without a fight, marching 66 yards in five plays capped by Edward Rivera’s five-yard run. His subsequent two-point run gave the visitors the lead, but not for long.

On the fifth play of its next drive Palisades re-took the lead on a 55-yard strike from Thomas to wideout LeHenry Solomon with 3:58 left in the first quarter.

Eddie Bryant Jr. returned the ensuing kickoff 60 yards to Palisades’ 5, setting up a 25-yard field goal by Bradley Villada that pulled South East within 14-11 late in the first quarter. Early in the second quarter, Hejazi caught his first touchdown pass on a 27-yard toss from Thomas, but the Jaguars (6-4) responded with another touchdown run by Rivera and Palisades led 21-18 at halftime. After the Jaguars turned irover on downs to begin the second half the Dolphins embarked on their best drive of the night, moving 75 yards in 13 plays and scoring on Hejazi’s juggling catch over the middle from 19 yards out to take a 10-point lead with 2:15 left in the third quarter.

Rivera’s third touchdown run cut South East’s deficit to 28-25 early in the fourth quarter but three and a half minutes later Thomas hooked up with Hejazi for the third time, this one from 14 yards out to makr it a 10-point margin. Rivera’s five-yard run with 3:25 left made it 32-25 but Augie Evans recovered the onside kick and a pass interference call on fourth down with 31 seconds left moved the chains and allowed Palisades (9-2) to run out the clock.

Harrison Carter carried the ball  23 times for 101 yards and caught five passes for 60 yards. Ricardo Martin had a 19-yard reception and Hejazi finished with seven grabs for 93 yards.         

Thomas was picked off late in the first half, only his third interception all season, and Carter was stopped  on the 1-yard line on the final play of the first half, keeping the Jaguars within one score. Through 11 games, Thomas has thrown for 34 touchdowns and rushed for eight.

The victory moved Palisades into the quarterfinals and the Dolphins will travel to fourth-seeded North Hollywood on Friday. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. The Valley Mission League champions (11-0) outscored Granada Hills 36-30 for the first Division I playoff win in program history. Nate Arlauskas threw for a pair of touchdowns and Daylan Garcia ran for 144 yards and two scores.

Top-seeded Eagle Rock survived a scare against No. 16 Crenshaw, 8-7, while No. 3 Venice was upset by 14th-seeded Franklin, 28-7.