Football, 1-2, will host the 5-0 Palisades Dolphins in a highly anticipated matchup on Pink Out Day, a Venice High annual tradition for raising breast cancer awareness. The game will be this Friday at 7 p.m.

The Gondoliers will be short-handed once again in the face of COVID-19 safety protocols but Coach Angelo Gasca assures the team will be “closer to full strength” by next week. 

Gasca also admits that he doesn’t know much about Pali, but he thinks the team should be more worried about themselves than the opponent.

“Just do our thing,” Gasca said. “Play mistake-free football, score more points, play our usual good defense.”

Senior Thomas Kensinger, a captain, said the team has been working on their run game and getting new players familiar with the squad to prepare for the big game against Pali. 

The Gondoliers are coming off a 6-0 loss to Paramount last Friday at home, in which they struggled mightily to score and turned the ball over many times, Gasca said.

“This was a winnable game,” Kensinger said. “But our offense wasn’t enough in our tough situation with COVID.”  

On a positive note, both Gasca and Kensinger praise the team’s excellent defense, which they hope the team can carry into against Pali. 

“Our defense was great,” Kensinger said. “We held Paramount to zero points for the first three quarters.”