Football: Palisades eager to prove itself in championship division

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As you loyal readers may have noticed I’ve been out of the blogging loop for a few weeks, but I logged on today to see what I’ve missed and came across my esteemed Times colleague Eric Sondheimer’s report about the gutsy decision by Garfield football coach Lorenzo Hernandez to move the Bulldogs from the City’s Invitational Division playoffs to the Championship Division.

Reading further, I wondered why Palisades was missing from the list of schools that have opted for the section’s upper division playoffs. Not that I’m the least bit surprised the Dolphins were overlooked. You wouldn’t expect a team that finished 1-9 and was dead last in the Western League last season to be lumped in with the likes of Crenshaw, Dorsey and Birmingham.

Yet, on paper at least, that’s just where the Dolphins are. So if Hernandez gets kudos for bravado then so too should Palisades’ second-year coach Kelly Loftus, who realizes his team will be a huge underdog should it reach the postseason.

‘If they were seeding right now we’d be 23rd out of the 23 teams in the upper bracket,’ Loftus admitted. ‘We had a lousy year and nobody’s expecting much from us. The good thing is that we have nowhere to go but up.’

Pad practice is several weeks away but Loftus likes what he sees so far, especially from sophomore quarterback Conner Preston and senior linemen Bryce Williams and Chris Chucca. Loftus also hired former Westchester and Hamilton coach Larry Wein as his offensive coordinator.

‘I have high expectations for this program and I bumped us up to show our players we believe they are capable of playing at that level,’ Loftus added. ‘It’s been awhile since this school’s been excited about football and we want to change that.’

Loftus is Palisades’ fourth head coach in the last seven seasons and the Dolphins have a 20-49 record over that span. Their last foray into the upper division playoffs was a first-round loss to Birmingham in 2000.

Working in Palisades’ favor is its schedule: seven home games, including six straight to open the season. With Hamilton also jumping to the Championship Division, only two Western League teams, Fairfax and University, remain in the Invitational.

Click here for the City’s 2008 football division assignments.

-- Steve Galluzzo