Jason Grant made a diving catch in the end zone with eight seconds left to lift Crenshaw past host Palisades 34-29 on Friday night in a battle of likely City Section Open Division playoff teams.
Danniel Flowers escaped the pocket, rolled to his right and lofted a pass to Grant, who saved the day for the Cougars after it looked like Palisades would pull off the upset against the team that lost in the section championship game last fall. Flowers ran for the two-point conversion.
“I ran an outside go route and I had to stretch out but I got my knees down,” Grant said. “We’ve been working all summer and the hard work paid off.”
Grant gave a shout-out to interim coach Terrence Whitehead, who guide the Cougars to the finals last fall in the absence of longtime coach Robert Garrett, who was put on administrative leave just before the start of the 2025 season.
“I love him,” Grant said. “He trusted me enough to put me in.”
After the kickoff, Palisades had one last chance from its own 26-yard line with two seconds left but Kyion Rattler intercepted Robert Holohan’s desperation pass at the Cougars’ 35.
Joshua Jones scores Crenshaw’s first touchdown in Friday night’s 34-29 season-opening win at Palisades.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Flowers, who was injured on a sack earlier in the fourth quarter but returned to lead his team on the game-winning drive, threw touchdown passes of 46 yards to Rattler in the second quarter and 23 yards to Jovan Clark with 6:04 left in the fourth quarter that gave Crenshaw a 29-26 lead.
Playing on campus for the first time since the 2024 playoffs, Palisades regained the lead on Holohan’s 33-yard strike to Malachi Ross with 2:48 left for the 29-26 lead. The Dolphins thought they recovered a fumble at the Crenshaw 20 on the ensuing kickoff but the officials awarded the visitors the ball and tacked on a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that allowed the Cougars to start their final drive at their own 35.
“I had to come back in,” Flowers said of his late-game heroics. “I saw the D-end coming out so I just had to wait for a teammate to get open. We knew we’d win if we played four quarters. When we got down we kept our composure.”
Joshua Jones ran for 124 yards and one touchdown in 24 carries, De’Andre Kirkpatrick ran for a one-yard touchdown and intercepted a pass in the fourth quarter to keep Crenshaw close.
“We for sure want to go back to the finals and win,” Flowers added. “Defense wins games, but our offense won this one.”
Making his first varsity start, Holohan threw for three touchdowns and ran for another as the Dolphins established themselves as early Open Division contenders. They lost to Garfield in the Open Division quarterfinals last season, playing every game on the road as a consequence of the Palisades fire.
The teams were meeting for the first time since 1984 when both played in the Crosstown League.