The Palisades-Santa Monica football rivalry was renewed Friday evening and one of the most enthusiastic fans in the stands was former Pali High wide receiver Troy Banks (Class of ’83), who has vivid memories of playing the Vikings to a 14-14 tie his junior year in what was then called the Rotary Bowl.
“It was only the third year of the rivalry, we both had tremendous teams full of Division I guys and I was excited because I always wanted to play here [at Santa Monica College],” recalled Banks, who went on to Santa Monica College and San Jose State and now resides in the Bay Area. “One thing that surprised me about that game was how crazy and excited Santa Monica was with the tie because they were losing the and came back at the end. We were disappointed with it.”
Banks believes that 1981 squad was one of the most talented the Dolphins have ever had.
“We were ranked top 10 in the City and we had Craig Austin, who was an All-City quarterback, we had Robert Tucker, who was an All-City tight end and we had Robert Steinberg (an All-City kicker). We lost to Kennedy in the 4A playoffs. Santa Monica had All-CIF guys like Aaron Brown and Dylan Stewart and they went on to win the CIF [Coastal Conference] championship.”
Santa Monica won Friday’s game 15-7. Banks considers Samo head coach Travis Clark his little brother because he has known him since Clark was 7-years old.
“That Pali team was so good!,” said Clark, who was a student at John Adams Middle School at the time and went to Banks’ house with his family after the game. “And so is this year’s team. Now I can root for them because it’s City ball and we’re not competing for the same goal. I’m a Palisades fan at this point.”
So who was Banks rooting for Friday — his family friend or his alma mater?
“Tonight, I was torn — it was hard for me,” he joked. “Do you really want me to tell you Travis?”
Although Santa Monica has owned the rivalry in recent years — winning 11 in a row — Friday’s game was the closest in the rivalry since Palisades won 23-21 under former coach Ron Price. The following season Palisades won 63-37 in the highest-scoring meeting ever.
“This is I think my third Palisades-Santa Monica game but I do come back and catch at least one or two of Coach Clark’s games every season,” Banks said. “Out of all the Palisades-Santa Monica games I’ve come to this is the most competitive.”
Clark took it one step further: “Palisades is really good. They’re going win City,” he predicted.
— Steve Galluzzo
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