Dolphins Demand a Dozen

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

The pressure is on for Palisades High boys water polo senior Charlie Speiser. His brothers Sammy (Class of 2018) and Maximo (Class of 2020) never lost a single City Section playoff match and he wants to carry on the family tradition by ending his Dolphins career with one more first-place medal to match the three he already owns.   

Palisades has not suffered a postseason defeat since a quartefinal loss to Cleveland in 2011 when the program was re-instated by coach Adam Blakis after a 33-year hiatus. Since then, the Dolphins have captured 11 consecutive crowns—the second-longest active title streak in the section behind only Palisades’ boys tennis team, which has won 15 straight dating back to 2009.   

To make it an even dozen the Dolphins must cope with the graduation of top scorer Owen Grant, who netted a finals-record 12 goals against Granada Hills in the inaugural Open Division championship game, a 23-10 Palisades victory.

The team still has loads of offensive firepower with Speiser, Benjamin Mokhtar, Jake Gallagher, Oliver Ghiassi, Ilan Ahdout, Sherwin Hazany, Sean Ellis and Jonah Isackson. Preventing the other team from scoring is equally important and that responsibility lies on the shoulders of returning goalie Logan Mirzadeh, who will serve as a co-captain alongside Speiser.

In keeping with tradition, the Dolphins’ coaches entered them in  tough early-tournaments to prepare for league and postseason action. This year it was the Ranch Bernardo Varsity Aquafest from August 22 to 24, the Long Beach Poly Invite the next weekend and the Malibu Classic from September 5-7. Palisades  heads to the South Bay Tournament  this weekend seeking to level its overall won-loss record at the two-day competition.

Palisades won six straight titles from 1973-78 and started its latest dynasty in 2012 (there were no playoffs in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Dolphins’ current playoff win streak is 42 (four rounds the first 10 years and two last year), believed to be the most of any team in any sport in the City.

Grant and his brother Avery had a similar experience last season as   Speiser does this year as their older sibling Oliver was a key member of the Dolphins’ championship teams from 2016-19. In their current title run the Dolphins’ finals wins have all come against West Valley League foes: five versus Birmingham, three versus Granada Hills, two versus Cleveland and one versus El Camino Real. The Highlanders will have a challenging road back to the finals in light of the fact that they too lost their leading scorer, Jared Espinoza, to graduation. He tallied six goals  against Palisades in last year’s final.

Other schools vying to dethrone the Dolphins include Birmingham, San Pedro and Cleveland, last year’s Division I champion.

Water polo returned as a City co-ed sport in the winter of 2008 and was split into separate boys and girls sports that fall. Birmingham captured four titles over five seasons before Palisades started its decade plus of dominance under Blakis,  who is joined this year by program alums Theo and Ben Trask.

In addition to its 17 City titles (including the six from the ‘70s) Palisades won back-to-back CIF Southern California Regional Division III titles in 2021 and 2022 and lost to Bonita in the finals last  year at Mt. San Antonio College.