Junior Max Palees was selected to the Open Division 2018 Football All-City Team.
PaliHi Football Players Recognized
On December 20, CIF LA City Section Sports Coordinator Dick Dornan released the names of the players who had been selected for the 2018 Football All-City Teams.
The Open Division was dominated by players from champion Narbonne, including Player of the Year Jonah Tauanu’u, a senior offensive lineman.
Palisades High School had three players selected: junior running back Max Palees, senior defensive back Jake Nadley and junior punter Tommy Meek (who also kicked field goals and extra points).
Western League selections included Palees as the Offensive Player of the Year, senior defensive end Jack Stansell as the Defensive Player of the Year and Meek as Punter of the Year.
Dolphins making the Western League first offensive team were senior lineman Mesach Santos and sophomore lineman Nick Calcaterra. The first defensive team included juniors Immanuel Newell, Sy Riley and Noah Ghodooshim and seniors Nadley and Will Janney.
The second offensive team included sophomore quarterback Forrest Brock and two linebackers, senior Obi Nwaononeyi and junior Justin Bahari. The second team defensive linemen were seniors TJ Michel and David Pierre, junior linebacker Joe Huff and defensive back Waka White.
MaxPreps Players of the Year were junior Syaire Riley (overall), Palees (offense), Stansell (defense) and Meek (special teams).
PaliHi made the City Open Division playoffs for the first time, going in as the seventh seed. And the Dolphins almost knocked off second-seed Eagle Rock (9-0), losing 24-21.
Afterwards Hyde said, “We had missed opportunities, but just came up one play short.”
Pali was 8-3 overall was 8-3 and 4-1 in league, with the sole loss to Fairfax. The team had 17 seniors but should be strong next year, bolstered by this year’s JV players. This was head coach Tim Hyde’s sixth season.