Palisades’ Koral Plans to Shorten His Sights

Palisades quarterback David Koral does not anticipate another record-setting performance this week in the Dolphins’ Western League opener against Los Angeles.

Last Friday, Koral completed 39 of 59 passes for a national-record 764 yards and seven touchdowns as the Dolphins (2-1) defeated Van Nuys Grant, 48-30, in a nonleague game.

Koral, a senior, broke the previous record of 672 yards set last season by Rhett Lashlee of Shiloh Christian (Springdale, Ark.) in a game against Junction City.

Koral, who had one pass intercepted, had touchdown passes of 80, 15, 42, 52, 94, 90 and 34 yards.

“I would never, in my right mind, think that throwing for 700 yards in a game was possible,” Koral said. “And it didn’t occur to me that we were gaining that many yards. . . .

“I definitely think teams will be playing loose with their safeties to stop us from throwing deep. But if they do, we can go short and our receivers are capable of turning them into big plays.”

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Before Mike Walsh walked out through the gate at Daniels Field last Friday night, he stopped for a moment and took in the ambience of the old stadium for the final time.

“I was thinking, ‘Daniels Field has been pretty good to me,’ ” the San Pedro High football coach said. “There are a lot of good memories.”

San Pedro’s 38-0 victory over Van Nuys was the Pirates’ final game at the venerable facility that was built in 1917 and is located down the street from the San Pedro campus. Daniels Field provided what was arguably the most intimate and festive high school football environment in the Southland.

San Pedro (2-1) plays at Crenshaw (3-0) Friday afternoon. The Pirates’ next home game is Oct. 13 against Wilmington Banning. It will be the first for the Pirates in their new campus stadium.

Will it offer the same home-field advantage?

“That’s what everyone is telling me,” Walsh said, sounding unconvinced. “We’ll see.”