Pali High JV coach Ray Marsden assesses his team after its first practice in pads.
Palisades High‘s junior varsity football squad held its first full-contact practice Monday, which gave head coach Ray Marsden an opportunity to evaluate how his first-year players handled tackling in pads. After going through summer conditioning with 50 players, Marsden has trimmed the roster to 45 and is optimistic about the upcoming season.
“We hit for the first time today, so we’re teaching them the proper ways and techniques, but we’re looking good,” he said. “Our line has a lot of depth, size and experience but it’s exactly the opposite at positions like receiver and running back.”
The Dolphins have experience at quarterback with sophomore Jonah Manheim, who got his share of snaps with the varsity at summer passing tournaments. Other key returners include middle linebacker Andres Garcia, running back/linebacker Oscar Romero, receiver/defensive backs Jonathan Melendez and Jason Frazier and linemen Kyle Foster and Gabe Stauff.
Decimated by injuries, the Dolphins went 4-6 last season and ended with three consecutive Western League defeats. Even with four Thursday games on the schedule, Marsden expects his team to improve on last year’s record.
“Our goal as always is to win league,” he said. “Venice is good, usually one of the top teams, but you can never count out Hamilton, Westchester or Fairfax. It’s a very balanced league and it depends on the incoming ninth-grade class for each of us. As for nonleague games, our goal is to at least go 4-1, hopefully 5-0 and avenge some losses from last year.”
— Steve Galluzzo
[/mpoverlay]
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
