Pali High Football Falls to Fairfax

Long before the season began, one of the games Fairfax High Coach Shane Cox had circled on his calendar was the one against . That's because his team lost to the Dolphins 44-34 in a shootout last year after what he called "taking them lightly."

The Lions certainly didn't make that mistake Thursday night, scoring on their first two possessions and holding Palisades scoreless until midway through the fourth quarter of a dominating 34-6 victory at Belmont High.

Fairfax fell victim to the Dolphins' trap last season, so all week in practice Cox drummed three words into his players' heads: fullback, power, pitch. Players seemed to get the message, as the Lions' defense forced punts on four of the Dolphins' five first-half drives.

"We defended them from the inside out," said Cox, who had only 26 players suited up for the game. "Their whole offense runs through their fullback No. 5 (Mylz Blake)—and he's darn good. If you don't stop him you're in for a long night. They do a great job running their offense, they have excellent nuances. We're glad to come out with a win. We looked at this game as our No. 1 priority because they surprised us last season. We were hoping to get another shot at them in the finals but it didn't happen."

Fairfax won the City Section Division II championship last fall, but like Palisades it moved up to Division I for the playoffs this year. Both teams are 2-1 in league with two games remaining. Venice improved to 3-0 after routing Hamilton 42-0. Palisades ends the season with home games against Westchester and Venice.

"You just didn't have it tonight," Palisades Coach Perry Jones told his team after the demoralizing defeat. "But we have two games left and we can still make the playoffs so you have to come out tomorrow and practice hard."

Fairfax set the tone right from the opening kickoff, marching 76 yards in nine plays, six of them through the air, and scoring on captain Eric Pugh's 6-yard touchdown with just over four minutes into the game. After sacking Palisades quarterback Nathan Dodson on third and long, Fairfax got the ball back at its own 18-yard line and needed just two plays to score, this time on a weaving 82-yard run by Jihad Reeves, who got to the sideline, then cut back to the middle of the field near midfield and was off to the races.

The Lions drove to Palisades' 11-yard line on their third possession, but Pugh dropped Joe Floyd's perfectly-thrown pass in the end zone and senior kicker Chris Carcamo was well short on a 37-yard field goal attempt. 

After the teams traded three-and-outs, the Lions went on the move again, driving 55 yards in nine plays and scoring on Floyd's three-yard quarterback sneak to take a 21-0 lead 1:53 before halftime.

Palisades responded by driving deep into Lions country and faced a fourth-and-goal at the 5-yard line. Dodson kept the ball on an option and stretched for the end zone, but officials ruled his elbow touched the ground two inches short of the goal line and Fairfax took over on downs with time winding down in the first half.  

"In practice, we just have to work on reading our keys," Palisades running back Eric Jackson said. "We felt we were in the game, our defense was stopping them but our offense continued to sputter. Justin [Sinclair and Arte' [Miura] did good things. We have an extra day of practice to get straight."

Sinclair rushed for 71 yards in five carries and Blake had 57 yards in nine carries for the Dolphins. Floyd completed eight of 10 throws for 101 yards and Marquis Smith had 75 yards in 15 carries for Fairfax.

The Dolphins tried to make something happen on their opening drive of the second half but a fake punt was stopped and Fairfax took over at its own 47. Robert Griggs caught a 29-yard scoring pass from Floyd with 7:08 left in the third quarter. Fairfax used a bit of razzle dazzle to put the game away just past the four-minute mark of the fourth quarter. Floyd pitched to Pugh, who started to the right, stopped, and fired a pass downfield to Pugh, who caught it at Palisades' 30-yard line and sprinted into the end zone.

The Dolphins didn't lie down, though, driving across midfield on four running plays. After Blake picked up nine yards, Miura stutter-stepped in the backfield, broke to the outside and outran two defenders to the end zone to avert the shutout with 5:01 left. Dodson kept the ball on the two-point try but he was sandwiched by a pair of defenders.

"Like always, the quarterback made a good read, Ben [Ingram] and Malachi [Beasley] made good blocks and that's why I was able to score," said Miura, back after missing the Hamilton game while recovering from a foot injury he suffered at Granada Hills. "Everything I do goes through them. They made it possible for me."

Miura said the Dolphins' loss was more about what they didn't do than what Fairfax did.

"As far as what we were doing, mentally we just messed up," he said. "We know what our flaws are and we have to correct them for the next game. We expected them to run and they passed at first, which is what a lot of teams do against us."

As for his foot, Miura claimed it is about 85 to 90 percent.

"It's still swollen, but it's getting there," he said. "I've been icing and taping it and working it back slowly. At first I thought it was broken but it wasn't a real serious injury."

After scoring, the Dolphins recovered an onside kick and backup quarterback Kevin Acosta hooked up with Beasley on a pass play to the Fairfax 19, but Rhaji Hicks recovered a fumble on the next play and Palisades' last threat was ended.

Score by Quarters

1

2

3

4

Final

Palisades

0

0

0

6

6

Fairfax

13

8

6

7

34

Scoring Summary

Fairfax -- Pugh 6 run (Carcamo kick), 7:54 left in 1st qtr.

Fairfax -- Reeves 82 run (kick failed), 4:30 left in 1st qtr.

Fairfax -- Floyd 3 run (Floyd run), 1:55 left in 2nd qtr.

Fairfax -- Griggs 29 pass from Floyd, (kick failed), 7:08 left in 3rd qtr.

Fairfax -- Bill 70 pass from Pugh (Carcamo kick), 7:34 left in 4th qtr.

Palisades -- Miura 15 run (run failed), 5:01 left in 4th qtr.

Records: Palisades 3-5, 2-1; Fairfax 5-3, 2-1.