On the Brink

Looking Back at Pali High Football’s Three City Finals Appearances

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Since Palisades High opened in 1961, the football program has advanced to the City Section finals only three times. Here is a recap of each year the Dolphins have made  it to the finals in their division:

1974

The closest Palisades has ever come to winning a gridiron title was 48 years ago when the Dolphins fell one play short in the championship game against a San Fernando squad regarded as one of the finest in City Section history. With head coach Dick North calling plays on offense and assistant coach Merritt Stanfield handling the defense, Palisades had its most successful season ever to that point, winning eight of its nine regular season games to take second behind Crenshaw in the Western League and qualify for the playoffs.

Back then there was one 16-team bracket and the Dolphins earned a spot in the final after shutouts over Cleveland, Roosevelt and Gardena.

Palisades established a school record with six shutouts and scored more points than any team in the ection that year led by quarterback and kicker Rick Myers and five All-City first teamers: receiver Tony Porchia, offensive tackle Bernard Webb, tailback Ian Rubin, defensive tackle Delmo Hooks and linebacker Richard Botwinick. Tailback Jimmy Whaley made the second team.

The championship game took place on a foggy December 13 night in front of a crowd of 12,747 at the LA Memorial Coliseum and it is still one of the best City finals ever.  San Fernando’s potent wishbone attack featured quarterback Kenny Moore, state 100-yard dash champion Kevin Williams and fullback

Charles White, who would go on to win the Heisman Trophy at USC.

Palisades led 3-0 at intermission thanks to Myers’ 32-yard field goal  with eight seconds left in the first half. San Fernando took the lead on its forst drive of the second half,  scoring on Williams’ 37-yard run.

Down 6-3 late in the third quarter, Palisades chose to try a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line but the Tigers were flagged for encroachment and the Dolphins sent their offensive unit back onto the field. They gave the ball to Rubin, but he was tackled for no gain.

On the Dolphins’ first possession of the fourth quarter Williams intercepted Myers’ pass and returned it 49 yards for a touchdown that gave the Tigers a 12-3 lead with 8:42 left.

Palisades answered right back on a 51-yard pass-run play from Mike Stennis to Rubin that narrowed the deficit to two with 7:03 remaining.

After an exchange of punts, the Tigers drove to Palisades’ 5 before turning it over on downs at the 17.

Now advancing solely through the air, Palisades moved to its 31 before calling its last time out with under 40 seconds left. Stennis connected with Porchia for a 38-yard gain to San Fernando’s 31. An incompletion stopped the clock with 18 seconds left, then Palisades got five yards closer on a throw to Rubin. The Dolphins quickly lined up for a field goal and as the last seconds ticked off Myers got the kick away before time expired but his 43-yard try was wide and the Tigers won, 12-10. They began the next season No. 1 in the nation and repeated as City champions by capturing the inaugural 4A (upper division) title.

1987

Thirteen years after their first run to a City final, the Dolphins found themselves vying for the 3A crown behind the accurate arm of quarterback Perry Klein, whose school passing marks were not bettered until 1999 when David Koral broke the state single-season record for passing yards with 4,907. In their third season under Jack Epstein the Dolphins went 5-0 in the Crosstown League to win their first league crown since 1978. Along the way, Klein set Palisades records with 26 consecutive completions and 46  total in a 41-12 rout of LA Jordan.

Shaking off nonleague losses to crosstown rival Santa Monica and City powerhouse Banning, the Dolphins reeled off six wins in a row to qualify for the middle tier playoffs (there were three divisions then—4A, 3A and 2A). A 42-12 blowout of Locke was followed by a 34-27 semifinal thriller over Taft. The final was played on the evening of December 19 in front of 2,500 fans at East Los Angeles College and the Dolphins’ opponent was Franklin, which won the 3A title a year earlier but later had it stripped for using an ineligible player.

Flourishing in an innovative system devised by volunteer offensive coordinator Steve Clarkson, Klein ultimately earned City MVP accolades throwing to All-City wideouts David Scott and Harold Champion. Leading the defense were All-City lineman Dion Beckton and linebacker Louis Randall.

Franklin trailed 7-0 in the second quarter when Ronnie Lopez threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Chad Infranca. Rick Branscombre added a one-yard scoring run to give the Panthers a 14-7 halftime lead and the margin grew early in the third quarter on a keeper by Lopez.    

Klein completed 22 of 39 throws for 194 yards and two touchdowns, the second a 22-yarder to Champion to pull Palisades within 21-14. Franklin pulled away in the fourth quarter on a pass from Lopez to Infranca and a 33-yard field goal. Palisades finished 9-3 and Klein threw for 3,896 yards and 36 touchdowns—at the time the second most yards ever in one season nationally. He transferred to Carson the next year and led the Colts to the 4A title.

Palisades would not go unbeaten in league again until 2019.

2022

It took Palisades 35 years to reach  another final, this time in Division I after being an Open Division final four team in 2021 in its first season under head coach Chris Hyduke.

Despite setbacks to Cleveland and Brentwood and a 46-point drubbing at the hands of league foe Venice, the Dolphins turned it up a notch in the postseason, beating Huntington Park, Dymally and Narbonne to set up a Saturday afternoon showdown with top-seeded Granada Hills on November 26 at Valley College.

The teams were scheduled to play in their annual Charter Bowl in September but it got canceled due to unsafe temperatures in the Valley. Palisades had won nine straight in the rivalry dating back to 2012, but the Highlanders ended that streak with a 44-7 triumph. Tailback Dijon Stanley scored on the Highlanders’ first offensive play and ended with 378 yards and five touchdowns.

Quarterback Roman La Scala’s three-yard keeper in the first quarter was the lone touchdown for Palisades, which trailed 36-7 at the half.