Football: Santa Monica hopes to extend streak at Palisades

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In the early years the rivalry was called ‘The Rotary Bowl.’ Recently it has come to be known as the ‘Battle by the Beach.’

It’s the annual grudge game between Santa Monica and Palisades and the 27th chapter will be written Friday night at Palisades High’s Stadium by the Sea.

Santa Monica has won eight straight over its L.A. City Section neighbor and leads 18-6-2 in a series that dates back to 1979. Palisades last emerged victorious in 2003 under then coach Jason Blatt, who played for Bill McCartney at Colorado and served as the defensive coordinator under Troy Starr at Woodland Hills Taft prior to going 9-13 in two seasons at Palisades.

The Vikings took last year’s meeting 33-15 at Santa Monica College, but among those who graduated are quarterback Christian Salem, who walked on at Northwestern, running back Kori Garcia (Cal Poly SLO), linebacker Chris Collins (Boise State) and offensive tackle-defensive end Chad Wheeler (USC). They led a 2011 squad that went 11-2, won the Ocean League, and reached the CIF Southern Section Western Division semifinals.

The top returner for Coach Travis Clark is USC commit Sebastian LaRue, a senior wide receiver who had 85 catches and 17 TDs a year ago. The rivalry has heated up again with Palisades’ resurgence under third-year Coach Perry Jones, who guided the Dolphins to the City Division II semifinals two seasons ago. They moved up to Division I last fall and went 2-8. A key returner is tailback Justin Sinclair, who was injured for most of last season.

Both teams are coming off impressive wins. Palisades throttled Sun Valley Poly 45-6 in its opener while Santa Monica routed Redondo 42-21.

-- Steve Galluzzo