Pali High Football Opens Playoffs at Home Friday

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

A “new” season begins Friday night, November 8, for the Palisades Charter High School football team, and much to head coach Dylen Smith’s liking it gets underway on home turf at Stadium by the Sea.

After shutting out Hamilton 42-0 to wrap up regular season action last Friday night, November 1, the Dolphins are seeded fifth out of 16 teams in the City Section Division I playoff bracket and host No. 12 South East on November 8 at 7 p.m.

Just two years ago the Dolphins reached the Division I final, losing to Granada Hills, and they are determined to make another deep playoff run behind the leadership of junior quarterback Jack Thomas (30 touchdown passes) and senior linebacker Jake Treibatch (106 tackles). Palisades has appeared in three section finals (1974, 1987, 2022) and has yet to win a title, but the Dolphins would love to make history in their second season under Smith.

Palisades was hoping Westchester would defeat Venice last Friday to force a three-way tie atop the Western League, but instead Venice got two interception returns for touchdowns on defense to beat Westchester 28-15 and clinch the outright title. Thus the Dolphins (8-2, 4-1) settled for second and the Comets (8-2, 3-2) dropped to third.

No Western League team was among the eight selected to the Open Division, which consists of all five Marine League schools (Narbonne, Carson, San Pedro, Banning and Gardena), West Valley League winner Birmingham, Eastern League champion Garfield and Coliseum League champion Dorsey. Palisades made the Open Division last fall, losing to Gardena in the quarterfinals.

As the league champion, Venice (6-4, 5-0) earned the No. 3 seed in Division I behind only Northern League winner Eagle Rock (8-2) and Valley Mission League champion Kennedy (8-2). East Valley League winner North Hollywood (10-0) is seeded fourth.

South East (6-3) finished fourth out of seven teams in the Eastern League and enters the postseason on a three-game winning streak, having posted double-digit victories over Roosevelt, South Gate and Legacy. South East and Palisades share a common opponent, Roosevelt. The Dolphins beat Roosevelt 27-14 in nonleague play August 29 while South East posted a 32-24 league win against Roosevelt on October 10.

If Palisades manages to eliminate the Jaguars it will advance to the quarterfinal round November 15 when it will either host No. 13 Granada Hills in a rematch of the teams’ annual Charter Bowl game September 6 (which Palisades won 42-28) or travel to North Hollywood. The Huskies have blanked six of their 10 opponents and have won every game by 14 points or more.

Palisades and Venice are on opposite sides of the draw and would not face each other until the finals. The Gondoliers went on the road to edge Palisades 45-44 in the teams’ league meeting October 18. Venice won Division I three years ago, crushing Canoga Park in the final for its first-ever City title.