Passing Grade

By STEVE GALLUZZO  |  Sports Editor

The Palisades High footbll team had another chance to prove itself  last Saturday at the El Camino Real Passing Tournament and the Dolphins showed they are fast learners, finishing 2-2-1 and giving their coaches plenty to ponder when deciding who will start at various positions when the season begins next month.   

“I was the lead coach for the lineman’s competition since it was big on weight room and strength,” assistant coach Tharen Todd said. “We placed fourth overall out of 12 schools that entered linemen; El Camino Real won the Tug-of-War, thus the overall competition, but our senior lineman Christian Baud won the overall bench press competition by bench pressing 185 pounds a remarkable 28 times! The next best was a kid from Birmingham with 23 reps.”

In the 7-on-7 competition Palisades beat Little Rock and Compton Centennial, lost to South Gate, tied Eastlake of San Diego, then lost to Harvard Westlake in the first round of the playoff phase.

Junior wide receivers Braydon Sanford (four touchdown receptions) and Sean Grier (three touchdown receptions) put on a show. Grier, a first-year football player, had also impressed a week before at the Culver City 7-on-7 Tournament. Senior tight end Cameron Kohan led the team in total catches on Saturday.

Junior quarterbacks Roman La Scala and Zachary Lifton were solid and coaches are still evaluating to determine who will be under center for the opener August 19 against El Camino Real.

“It was a long, hot day and the kids played well under tough San Fernando Valley conditions,” Todd said. “It was a high of 102 degrees and three of our five games were at the hottest time. Now we get ready to kick off the season, we get into helmets and pads in one week with a tough scrimmage against returning LA City champion Birmingham on August 12.”

Palisades lost 32 players to graduation from last year’s City Open Division semifinal team that went undefeated in the Western League and began the season with 11 straight victories.