Photos by Steve Galluzzo
Season Opens Friday for Palisades High Football Team, Which Aims to Defend League Title and Return to Open Division Playoffs
By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
By any measure, Dylen Smith’s first season as head coach of the Palisades High football program was a success. Under his leadership the Dolphins finished 7-3, won the Western League title and made the City Open Division playoffs—one of only eight teams to do so.
Upon being hired, however, he made it clear his ultimate goal was to pilot the team to its first section championship. That may seem far fetched as he begins his second year at the helm, but Smith believes the Dolphins are capable of winning all 10 games on the schedule—six of which will be played at the friendly confines of Stadium by the Sea, starting with Friday night’s season opener against Dymally (varsity kickoff at 7 p.m.).
His confidence was bolstered by the Dolphins’ performance in last Friday’s scrimmage against Santa Monica, Smith’s alma mater, on the Vikings’ new navy blue synthetic turf field. If official score were kept the Dolphins would have lost 14-7, Nevertheless Smith liked a lot of what he saw, especially from his offensive line.
“The scrimmage went ok,” he said. “Not the best showing we wanted to have. We did some good things and some bad things—all fixable.
I was most pleased with the O-line. They blocked really well in the pass game and in the run game. On some plays the defensive line had more guys than they could block so that wasn’t their fault, but I was really, really pleased with them.”
If the Dolphins are going to win at least a share of their seventh league title in 10 years, improving as the season goes on and keeping injuries to a minimum will be key. Palisades has won 20 of its last 22 league games, both losses to Venice.
Schedule
According to Calpreps, Palisades’ strength of schedule is weaker than last year, so the Dolphins should take full advantage against overmatched opponents like Dymally, which graduated most of its best players from last year’s nine-win squad that made the City Division I semifinalis. For its second game Palisades was supposed to travel to Boyle Heights to face Roosevelt, but the Rough Riders’ field renovation is not complete, so the contest was relocated to Palisades, where the Dolphins routed an undermanned Roosevelt squad 42-14 last August. Replacing St. Genevieve on the nonleague slate is Harvard-Westlake, which ended up 4-6 overall and 1-3 in league last fall (including a 22-21 defeat to St. Genevieve) and missed the Southern Section Division 12 playoffs. The Dolphins dropped the Charter Bowl to Granada Hills last year and make their first road trip Sept. 6, but the Highlanders’ best player, running back and All-City defensive back Darrell Stanley, has transferred to City Open champion Birmingham. Last year’s 16-point loss snapped Palisades’ nine-game winning streak in the Charter Bowl.
Palisades has lost two in a row in its “Sunset Showdown” intersectional battle with Brentwood, but Eagles quarterback Boone Lourd graduated and Smith is extra motivated to beat his old team (he was an assistant under Jake Ford at Brentwood before taking the Palisades job) when the schools renew their rivalry Sept. 13. The league champion will likely be the winner of the Dolphins’ Oct. 18 homecoming game against Venice.
The teams have split their last four meetings with Palisades coming out on top 28-24 last fall.
Offense
Junior quarterback Jack Thomas passed to wide receiver King Demethris for a 70-yard touchdown on the final play of last Friday’s scrimmage and the next day Smith named Thomas the starter for tomorrow’s opener following a spirited battle for the first-string spot throughout camp with senior Brett Federman, who had backed up Roman La Scala (he graduated in June) last season.
Josh Chinchilla centers a talented line, flanked on either side by Cole Ward (6-5, 220 lbs.), Liam Hudson (6-3, 230), Liam Giannantonio (5-10, 180) and Mitchell Ghotanian (6-5, 220). Other linemen include Samuel Pizante, Matthew Franco, Luc Vallernaud, Bryan Ochoa, Iliya Heydarkhanie, Hunter Kizzee and Walter Perez. The receiving group is deep with Demethris, Max Hejazi, LeHenry Solomon, Michael Meraz, Armani Lindley, Adan Diaz, Ricardo Martin, Harrison Carter and tight ends Augie Evans, Eddie Guevara and Alex Vasquez. Carter will also head a stable of running backs that also features Tyler Jones and Deveron Kearney. The top gainer last year, Teralle Watson, transferred to Warren High in Downey.
Defense
Despite the graduation of City Defensive Line MVP Evan Nehrenberg and All-City defensive backs Matt Spoonamore and Saxon Ward, the Dolphins return one of the best all-around defenders in the section in 6-4 senior outside linebacker Jake Treibatch, who led the squad with 60 tackles, nine for losses, last year.
Cash Allen will also play outside linebacker alongside Noah Roshan, Brayden Khani, Reggie Montanez and Nico Townsley. Rowan Flynn will patrol the middle. Nose guards Ari Hosseinzadeh and Justin Rodriguez will have help from tackles Kenneth Sanchez, Kayden Kohan and Leandro Fabian and ends Mike Tobin, James Tisdale, Dylan Nazarian, Didier Amaya, Nikan Modaressi and Joseph Bucher-Leighton should apply plenty of pressure to opposing quarterbacks. The secondary is also full of playmakers in strong safeties Connor Petoyan and Skyler Walters, free safeties Jaden Joch, Jack Crosby and Tavian Talbert, and corner backs Solomon, Jackson Kaufman, Diego Partow, Ethan Nazarian, Desmond Russell and Ervin Hernandez.
Special Teams
Seniors Jacob Leatherman and Jack Malloy will handle the kicking and punting duties. Palisades lost All-City punter Caden Robertson (35.6 yards per punt average) and placekicker Kellan Ford 34-of-36 on PATS and two-of-three in field goal attempts) both graduated. Solomon returns as the Dolphins’ premiere kickoff and punt returner, having re-
turned 10 kickoffs for 275 yards (includng a 95-yarder) and seven punts for 150 yards in 2023. Carter averaged 15 yards in his three kickoff returns and averaged 10 yards in his three punt returns.
History
Palisades has become one of the winningest programs in the LA City Section over the last five seasons, posting a 40-11 record in that span, including Open Division postseason berths in 2019, 2021 and 2023 and a run to the Division I finals in 2022.
Prior to 2022, Palisades had only reached the finals twice in program history. In 1974, under their first coach Dick North and back when there was only one playoff division, the Dolphins lost to San Fernando 12-10 in the championship game on a foggy night at the LA Coliseum when quarterback and kicker Rick Myers missed what would have been the game-winning field goal as time ran out. In 1987, quarterback Perry Klein set school passing records on his way to leading Palisades, coached by Jack Epstein, to the 3A final, where the Dolphins fell to Franklin 30-14 at East LA College. Klein finished the year with 3,896 yards and 36 touchdowns.
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