Dolphins' Defense Answers the Call

All season long, football coach Perry Jones has been waiting for his team to show its true colors. "Blue Pride" was on full display in Friday night's homecoming game at a jam-packed , where the host Dolphins gave their fans a dramatic finish.

Trailing L.A. Hamilton 24-8 with six minutes left in the fourth quarter, Palisades rallied for two quick touchdowns and a pair of two-point conversions to force overtime, then they sent the crowd into a wild frenzy on Mylz Blake's game-ending 25-yard touchdown gallop on the Dolphins' first offensive play of the extra session.

The thrilling 30-24 triumph not only boosted the Dolphins' positioning in the City Section power rankings, it also kept them on pace with reigning champion Venice at the top the standings. The Gondos needed a touchdown with less than three minutes left to eke out a 19-14 victory over visiting Westchester.

"The defense really stepped up tonight," Jones said. "I've been saying all along that if we just stop turning the ball over and play like I know we can play we'll win football games. We needed all three phases—offense, defense and special teams—to get this done. It was a great atmosphere and it was one of the most exciting games I've ever coached."

Senior linebacker Corey Richardson set a school single-game record with six sacks and forced the key turnover of the game with the clock ticking late in the fourth quarter, hitting Hamilton quarterback Acusio Bivona as he was attempting a shovel pass. The ball fell into the arms of Matthew Murillo but he couldn't hold on and it bounced off the foot of Victor Garcia and right back to Murillo inside the Yankees' 10-yard line. The senior defensive end ran into the end zone to pull Palisades within 24-22.

"In some of our earlier games we weren't together, we weren't tuned in on defense," Richardson said. "We had a physical week in practice. The defense felt it was our turn to win the game for our team." 

Senior quarterback Nathan Dodson kept the ball on the two-point conversion try and snuck it over the plane of the goal line to knot the score and ignite the home crowd near the two-minute mark.

"I was going to throw the ball but I noticed Hamilton left a hole open so I just kept it and ran," Dodson said. "It was close but they gave it to me."

Aided by a good kickoff return, Hamilton drove to the Dolphins' 25 on its final possession and even got the benefit of a "fifth" down, but Palisades' defense stymied the visitors.

After the defense held on four plays in the Yankees' first series in overtime, it was up to the Dolphins' offense to finish the job—and they wasted little time doing so. On the first play, Blake took a handoff, broke to the outside, shed a pair of tacklers and raced to the end zone.

"I was frustrated in the first half," Dodson admitted. "I wasn't dropping deep enough on my passes and they were blitzing so I wasn't getting a lot of time. The coaches told me to attack the perimeter more in the second half. This is absolutely my biggest win. We weren't going to lose. The defense played at a whole new level, even when we put them in bad spots. Offensively we pulled through."

Hamilton took the opening kickoff and drove for a touchdown, scoring on a short run to take a 6-0 lead. However, the extra point was missed—the first of four the Yankees would miss in the game. Palisades, meanwhile, scored only three times in regulation but made three two-point conversions.

After Justin Sinclair ran 45 yards to move the Dolphins into the red zone, Chris Wilkins scampered for 14 yards on a pitch, then the Yankees were called offside, moving the ball to the 1-yard line. Blake powered into the end zone and Ricky Lynch caught the two-point conversion pass to give Palisades an 8-6 lead midway through the second quarter. The Dolphins kept their slim advantage until halftime.

"Even though I thought I could've done better, I was confident we would win because of how the defense was playing," said Dodson, making just his second start since injuring his shoulder in Palisades' Week 2 loss to Santa Monica. "We have to stay hungry. We want to finish with a .500 record and to do that we've got to win out."

The Dolphins entered the game at No. 21 in ' L.A. City Section Division I rankings while Hamilton was 13th. Only 16 teams qualify for the playoffs.

"More important to me than ranking is where we are in league," Jones said. "If we win our league, we're in no matter what, so that's our goal. After we started 0-5 a lot of teams probably wrote us off as not very good but maybe now they'll start worrying about us a little."

Hamilton moved back in front in the third quarter, then scored twice in less than one minute midway through the fourth. The first was on a 30-yard run after what the Dolphins thought was a forward lateral, then the Yankees took a 16-point lead two plays after Richardson's snap on a punt sailed beyond the reach of Garcia, who fell on the ball at the 6-yard line.

The Dolphins needed only three plays to respond when backup quarterback Adrian Romero faked a pitch and ran 40 yards to move the Dolphins into Hamilton territory. Two plays later, Blake exploded for a 21-yard touchdown on a fullback trap. Dodson threw to Ben Ingram for the two-point conversion that cut Palisades' deficit to 24-16.

"It was a strange game in that they had four touchdowns [in regulation] to our three but yet it was still tied because they missed all of their kicks," Jones said. "That's where special teams comes into play. The defense got a touchdown and stopped them in overtime. Everything came together at the end."

As if homecoming to celebrate the school's 50th anniversary wasn't motivation enough, the Dolphins got a surprise visit before the game from former Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Strahan, who played his entire 15-year career with the New York Giants, retiring after leading them to a 17-14 upset over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. Strahan set the NFL single-season sacks record with 22.5 in 2001.   

"He came in to talk to us for about 15 minutes and said just keep your heads up no matter what happens," Wilkins said. "He showed us his Super Bowl ring and let us try it on. That thing's heavy."

Dodson also took Strahan's words of wisdom and encouragement to heart.

"He said a lot of the same things Coach Jones does," Dodson said. "That every play is important, go out there with some swagger and don't worry about the other team. Just focus on us and what we're going to do."

Hamilton came in red hot, having won four consecutive games while allowing just 69 points all season (including two shutouts), by far the fewest total of any team in the league. Yet the Dolphins scored as many points Friday night as the Yankees had allowed during their entire winning streak.

"I'm really proud that we gave it our all for the whole 48 minutes—actually more than that," Wilkins said. "We played assignment football, we hung in there and didn't give up. We left everything on the field. It was really intense, the crowd was into it and we fed off that energy. We concentrated on what we had to do. We didn't want to mess up."

Palisades will try to stay undefeated in league against defending City Division II champion Fairfax on Friday night at Belmont High. The Dolphins prevailed 44-34 in a shooutout last season.

Click here to watch a video clip of the Dolphins' post-game celebration.

Score by Quarters

1

2

3

4

OT -- Final

Hamilton

6

0

12

0 ----- 24

Palisades

0

8

0

6 ----- 30

Records: Hamilton 4-3, 1-1; Palisades 2-5, 2-0.

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