Palisades High School football team held senior night at SoFi Stadium.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
Demare Dezeurn caught a pass in the end zone to score a touchdown.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
Palisades High School Football team finished its season against Fairfax 40 to 33, at SoFi Stadium, on senior night. The Dolphins remain undefeated 10-0 and first in league in the Western division.
Offensively, the Dolphins, under quarterback Jack Thomas proved unstoppable. Thomas, threw for 386 yards and five touchdowns, picking up 16.1 yards per attempt. When a receiver is not open, he’s able to read the field and not afraid to scramble and run. He was credited for 38 rushing yards and one touchdown.
Quarterback Jack Thomas found the holes in the defensive line and ran the ball for a touchdown.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
He pairs well with Demare Dezeurn who has incredible speed and athleticism, and picked up 255 receiving yards and three TDs. Junior Malachi Ross has really stepped up for the Dolphins and had 111 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Also instrumental to the Dolphins was Deveron Kearney, a journeyman who had nine carries.
Strong defensively for Pali was junior Lamont Lewis who is credited with two solo, two assists and a fumble recovery. Tavian Talbert and Noah LeChang both had three solo tackles.
Ricardo Martin makes a spectacular tackle.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
Dolphin kicker Carter Schwartz completed four PATs. A senior at Pali, this was his first year playing football. He’s a soccer player and told CTN “About two months ago, a call went out to the soccer team asking for a kicker and I thought, I love watching football, why not try playing it.”
Fairfax was in last place in the Western League, but its offense challenged the Dolphin’s defense. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 7 to 7: at half the score was tied 13 to 13. It was only in the third quarter, when the Dolphins scored two TDs, and held the Lions scoreless, did they start to pull away.
Although the Lions had more game possession time, about twice that of the Dolphins, they didn’t help themselves by racking up 75 penalty yards in the game.
The real story this season was the determination of the Palisades football team. When the season started, Pali didn’t have a place to practice nor a stadium to play games.
The L.A. Chargers stepped up to assist. They gave a $50,000 donation for uniforms/helmets. When they heard Pali didn’t have a place to practice, they invited them to a practice with NFL players at a state-of-the-art training facility in El Segundo.
Then, the entire team and their families were treated to a pre-season game at SoFi and PaliHi players were honored before the game.
When the Chargers learned Pali didn’t have a field to play Senior Night games, they stepped up again and the game was held at SoFi on October 30. Charger football players Quentin Johnston and Denzel Perryman accompanied PaliHi Captains on the field for the coin toss.
L.A. Chargers Quentin Johnston and Denzel Perryman participated in the coin toss.
Last night an announcer said, “The Spanos Family and the Chargers have done so much for us, more than they’ll ever know. . . they’ve given us memories to last a lifetime, and for that and their generosity, we are forever grateful.”
President of Business Operations A.G. Spanos was presented with a football autographed by the 2025 Pali Varsity players.
Just when it didn’t seem like it could get any better, it was announced that PaliHi head coach Dylen Smith had been selected as the Charger’s Coach of the Week. (All nominations are decided upon by the Chargers Coach of the Week Selection Committee comprised of California Interscholastic (CIF) Federation administrators, retired coaches, and more. Each weekly winning Coach receives $1,000 to go to their school’s athletic department.)
After the award, Smith was asked about playing in SoFi. “It’s the perfect field and you could get used to it real quick,” Smith said. “I can’t say enough about how the Chargers stepped up for us and made it special.”
Palisades High School is ranked third in the Los Angeles City Section rankings behind San Pedro and Carson, with the seeding meeting for the playoffs this weekend. The first week will be a bye for the Dolphins.
“It doesn’t matter where we’re seeded,” Smith said. “We have to play them all.”
PaliHi Coach Dylen Smith was chosen Coach of the Week by the Chargers.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN