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Schools

Comets Pass High Over Palisades

The Dolphins' playoff hopes are in jeopardy after a 50-34 defeat.

In the first half, the varsity football team moved the ball as well on offense as it has all season. The Dolphins seemed poised for their first victory over Westchester in four years, only to watch their lead vanish in the blink of an eye. 

Palisades tried a reverse on the kickoff to open the second half, a punishing hit jarred the ball loose and Kenneth Wicks returned the fumble for a touchdown to give the Comets the lead and they never looked back, scoring 35 consecutive points on the way to a 50-34 victory at .

"That was a big momentum-changer for sure," Palisades Coach Perry Jones said. "We had a chance to score first in the second half and instead they score a few seconds in and now we're down. We did a lot of good things on offense but we didn't match up with them on defense."

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A Ben Ingram touchdown gallop put Palisades in front 26-15 late in the second quarter, but junior Darnell Brown returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a score and the Dolphins had to settle for a four-point advantage going into the locker room.

After taking a 29-26 lead on the fumbled kickoff, the Comets increased their advantage on their next possession when quarterback Nicholas King connected with Jason King for a 34-yard touchdown on fourth-and-long. King needed only nine completions to throw for 266 yards and four touchdowns as Westchester struck quickly and with deadly accuracy in the second half. 

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"Unbelievable, that kid has got a cannon for an arm," Jones said of the Comets' senior quarterback. "He threw one 70 yards to get them out of trouble and came right back the next play for a touchdown. They went almost 100 yards in two plays. Some of them were up for grabs and we didn't make the plays, but some were well covered and he just put it in a good spot."

King added touchdown passes to Brown and Jason King to increase the Comets' lead to 24 points early in the fourth quarter before the Dolphins scored their only points of the second half to provide the final margin. Westchester won last year's game 21-7 in the league finale for both teams.

"We were doing pretty much what we wanted to in the first half, everything was working," said Miura, who ended the Dolphins' first scoring drive with a five-yard scamper to give them a quick 6-0 lead. "I don't think they were more physical than us, they just made adjustments on defense and mentally we started messing up."

The Dolphins averaged nearly eight yards per run in the first half, amassing 255 yards on the ground. Adrian Romero took a keeper around right end for a score, quarterback Nathan Dodson found senior tight end Michael Mell for a 12-yard touchdown and Palisades led by 12 points midway through the second quarter.

"This was my best game since my return [against University]," said Dodson, who injured his shoulder in the Dolphins' Week 2 defeat to Santa Monica and sat out most of their last three nonleague games. "In previous years we've backed down from Westchester but we came out fired up and they couldn't stop us. We just played our style of football. You have to hand it to Nicholas King. He played a great game for them. The kickoff return at the start of the second half was huge. We didn't block it up and they took advantage."

The second half was a 180-degree turn from the first, as Westchester bottled up the Dolphins' running lanes and closed off the option. Palisades averaged less than two yards per carry over the final two quarters. However, it was the inability to defend the Comets' vertical passing game that proved to be the Dolphins' undoing.

"We knew they would be fast and athletic, we knew they would throw because that's what every team tries against us," Jones said. "We scored enough points but we're giving too much away on defense. We have to get a better pass rush and we have to react better when the ball's in the air. They caught some that should've been picks for us."

After opening play with two victories Palisades (3-6 overall, 2-2 in league) has since suffered back-to-back losses and must upset defending champion Venice on Thursday night back at Stadium by the Sea to have a realistic shot at the . Venice routed University 44-7 to stay atop the standings while Fairfax (6-3, 3-1) stayed in second place with its 33-14 drubbing of Hamilton, which has dropped three straight since its surprising 27-20 victory over the Comets (6-3, 2-2) to begin league play.

"We all know Venice is good but this could be our last game so we want to beat them and show what kind of team we are," Miura said. "No one is giving up. We want to finish strong."

Venice (5-4, 4-0) is in pursuit of its 10th consecutive league title and has won four games in a row. The Gondos, ranked fourth in the City by MaxPreps, beat Palisades 30-13 at home last season. 

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