The goal for the Palisades High varsity football team heading into Friday’s home opener is simple: stop Darius Jones.
The Canoga Park senior is the fifth leading rusher in the City Section with 443 yards in three games (an average of 8.5 yards per carry) with eight touchdowns and Dolphins Coach Tim Hyde remembers him all too well, for Jones gained over 250 yards in last year’s 14-11 loss to Palisades.
Last week the Dolphins allowed another talented running back, Santa Monica’s Zachary Cooper, to run for 150 yards and two touchdowns in a 15-7 defeat. However, the Dolphins will be playing in front of their home crowd at Stadium by the Sea for the first time Friday night and Hyde fully expects them to be energized and ready to compete.
“He’s an outstanding running back,” Hyde said of Jones. “A different kind of back than [Cooper], but we need to do a better job of tackling. We didn’t play very well against Canoga Park last year but we won the game.”
Hyde gave out game balls to center Alex Clarke, running back Brad Boorstin and defensive lineman Kenny Jones for their performances against Santa Monica and he praised the high level of play by defensive end E.B. Odeh and tight end James Mann in the first two games.
The junior varsity game kicks off at 4 p.m., followed by the varsity at 7.
— Steve Galluzzo
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