Jayon Brown (#20) and Poly teammates in good spirits at practice last week. Photo by Matt Cohn.

A season that will be remembered for a remarkable turnaround after a 1-3 pre-season ended for the Poly Jackrabbits Friday night with a tough 21-20 loss to the Granite Bay Grizzlies in the C.I.F. Division One State Championship game. 

“I love every last one of my teammates,” says senior outside linebacker Jayon Brown.  “We had a great season. Friday’s game was a big let-down for us, though.  No one plays for second place.”  

The Grizzlies contained the Poly offense well and got a clutch performance from kicker Colin Brown, who kicked two field goals in the first half and got the go-ahead extra point with a minute left in the game, after Granite Bay drove 77 yards for the tying touchdown. 

The Jackrabbit players and coaches were quick to give praise to the Grizzlies for their solid play, but also expressed disappointment about Poly’s 11 penalties and five interceptions, which helped keep the state title just out of reach this year.  

Poly has a wealth of young talent returning next season, including quarterbacks Eban Jackson and Tai Tiedemann. Seniors like Brown, who’ll become a UCLA Bruin next fall, have the satisfaction of being remembered as winners of Poly’s 19th C.I.F. divisional championship.

We never quit on each other and neither did our coaches,” says Brown of Poly’s comeback season. “We brought respect back to our program and to the community. We have much to be proud of.”