The season opener this year for the Palisade football team was no disappointment, proving the same kind of fire that they brought last year against the Delta Panthers with the Hail Mary that shook the stadium. This Friday, on August, the 29th, the Palisade Bulldog football team faced head-on against the Delta Panthers showing the standards that they have set for this season, beating the Panthers 40-7. This was a rematch that the Panthers were hoping to take after losing to the Bulldogs last year with a few seconds on the score board and a Hail Mary from Palisade that will not soon be forgotten.
With long hours of practices, weights, and film, Palisade showed their intense determination, triumphing through each quarter and finally led the Panthers to a forfeit at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Senior Jeremiah Smith, widely known as “J Money”, has been playing football for Palisade all four years of his high school career and had much input on the game. “Our team showed a lot of strengths throughout this game both offensively and defensively, and having Branson Springer as our quarterback has been a really huge strength to our team. The time and the hours that Branson puts into this team has a big impact on the way our team plays. We were all very enthusiastic about this game and that definitely made us stronger overall.” Smith plays wide receiver, punter, and safety. “Going into the game we were all very pumped up, and Delta thought that they were going to get their comeback during this game from last year, but we weren’t going to let that happen,” comments Smith.
Sophomore, Deigen Salvati has been playing football for around eight years now and started playing on the Varsity team for Palisade last year as a Freshman. Salvati plays running back and linebacker for Palisade. Salvati comments, “Our team is very strong both offensively and defensively. I feel like we definitely have our defensive game down. If we clean up some little things on our offensive play I think we can also be very strong there too.” When asked what Salvati’s highlight of the game was he states, “My highlight was probably lighting up Delta’s quarterback near our endzone, although I think that it definitely should have been a safety, I felt really good about that tackle.”
Job well done to our Palisade football team for the amazing performance they showed in Delta against the Panthers. Make sure to come to Palisade’s next game on Thursday at Stocker Stadium to watch our Bulldogs face the Montrose Red Hawks. Keep up the good work Bulldogs!
