Highlanders Grind Out Trophy Triumph

Having begun the season with three tough losses to quality opponents, 's football team was in need of a victory Friday night to gain confidence and build momentum heading into its most challenging road trip of the season.

The only problem was, Granada Hills did not cooperate. The host Highlanders were eager to reclaim the bronze trophy surrendered in last season's 10-0 defeat to Palisades and that's precisely what they did, outscoring the Dolphins 13-0 in the second half to emerge victorious, 27-6, at John Elway Stadium in the schools' sixth annual .

"The kids get it, they know the significance of this game and they are very disappointed," Palisades Coach Perry Jones said. "No, this is not a playoff game but it's still a game that you want to win. It meant a lot to us [winning] last year and it meant a lot to us this year."

Mylz Blake scored the Dolphins' only touchdown on a 35-yard option run that brought Palisades (0-4) to within a single point in the first quarter. The Dolphins lined up in the swinging gate formation for the two-point conversion, but quarterback Kevin Acosta kept the ball instead of passing and was tackled short of the goal line.

First-string quarterback Nathan Dodson, who injured his shoulder on the first series in Palisades' 33-15 Week 2 loss to Santa Monica and didn't play in the home opener against Crespi, sat out his second straight game.

Acosta, a 5-foot-5, 150-pound junior, had performed admirably in Palisades' 40-0 loss to Crespi the week before, but he and his teammates were unable to generate enough offense Friday. Losing Arte' Miura to a twisted ankle on a runback in the second half didn't help the Dolphins' cause, although Ben Ingram, who replaced Miura despite nursing an injury himself, led the team with 62 rushing yards.

"We weren't expecting [Ben] to be able to go, but when Arte' went down we asked Ben if he wanted to finish it off," Jones said. "We fumbled about four times, we had [tight end] Michael Mell wide open again and missed it and we couldn't finish drives. It would've been nice to have all of our players, but the bottom line is we didn't play well enough to win."

Granada Hills (3-2) racked up close to 400 yards on offense and held Palisades under 200. Just as he was the previous week when he completed all eight of his passes in a 28-0 shutout of crosstown rival Kennedy, Highlanders quarterback Joshua Szin was deadly accurate against the Dolphins. The senior connected on 17 of 18 throws for 187 yards, including a touchdown to tight end Bryson Bowman.

Brian Sanchez ran 18 times for 73 yards and a pair of touchdowns for Granada Hills, which won for the fourth time since the Charter Bowl was started in 2006. The home team has won every game in the series. Friday's result marked the fourth time the losing team has scored six points or fewer.

"Nate [Dodson] didn't play at all because he was still really sore, so I'm not surprised that we couldn't put up as many points as we would've liked," Jones said. "I was more surprised that we didn't play defense real well. We didn't stop them when we needed to. We're a good team. Yeah, it's tough to lose but athletics reveals your character and in football you have to be able to bounce back quickly because there's another game the next week."

In the midst of their third season under head coach Billy Parra, the Highlanders have been paced by multi-purpose back Victor Rabago, who is averaging almost 7.5 yards per carry and ran four times for 35 yards and one touchdown against the Dolphins.

Palisades next travels south to Riverside County to take on powerhouse Vista Murrieta, which routed the Dolphins 45-16 last season and dealt Crespi its first loss, 38-20, last Friday. The Broncos (4-0) are ranked second behind Corona Centennial in the CIF Southern Section's Inland Division poll.

Score by Quarters

1

2

3

4

Final

Palisades

6

0

0

0

6

Granada Hills

7

7

7

6

27

Results of the first six Charter Bowls (Granada Hills now leads the series 4-2):

2006 -- at Granada Hills 10, Palisades 3
2007 -- at Granada Hills 48, Palisades 10
2008 -- at Palisades 21, Granada Hills 0
2009 -- at Granada Hills 28, Palisades 21
2010 -- at Palisades 10, Granada Hills 0
2011 -- at Granada Hill 27, Palisades 6

Total points scored: Granada Hills 123, Palisades 71.