Palma football

 Not since the days of facing national power De La Salle has Palma's defense absorbed a beating as it did in allowing 52 points in a loss to Sutter.
 That goes back to 2007, or 100 games since the Chieftains gave up 50 or more points.
 Now Sutter is no De La Salle.
 But it is pretty good.
 This is a program that played for a state divisional title in 2014 and reached the Northern California  D3 bowl game last fall.
 It's also a program Palma defeated 42-14 last year.
 You can make the argument that the Chieftains beat themselves with four turnovers, three of which led to touchdowns, including a pick six.
 If you're counting, that's 21 points. Palma was beaten 52-31.
 Then again, the Chieftains were also outscored 45-3 after taking an early 14-7 lead.
 Now don't start writing eulogies because Palma was soundly beaten in its season opener. It will not get any easier next week with St. Francis coming to Rabobank.
 The Chieftains run of supremacy isn't over.
 But when you schedule three section champions and a CCS runner-up in non-league, expectations soar.
 And they should. Because if Palma has aspirations of ever playing in a state title game, as it openly talks about, it has to beat teams like Sutter  -- in December when the stakes are higher.