In a Florida rain on the Miami-Dade College campus, Long Beach Poly’s football team officially declared themselves as serious national title contenders by defeating last year’s champions, the Miami Northwestern Bulls, by a score of 29-7. Poly, which had been consistently ranked in national top 10 polls, officially launched the beginning of the Long Beach high school football season on a high note by snapping the Bulls’ 30-game winning streak.
Poly beat the defending national champs the way it’s likely to defeat its more local foes: a stifling defense that came up huge in goal line situations (stopping a fourth-down QB sneak near the end zone) and a running game that couldn’t be contained. Melvin Richardson, starting back for the Jackrabbits, finished the game with 124 yards on 16 carries, and two touchdowns, while Daveon Barber chipped in with 96 yards on 18 carries, with another two touchdowns. All told, Poly rushed for over 250 yards—against the national champions. And while the backs are strong, and fast, that kind of effort is simply impossible without great blocking up front, which the Jackrabbits got. “The offensive line did an awesome job,” said Poly head coach Raul Lara, who had mentioned the O-Line as one of the team’s biggest question marks before the game.
The Bulls weren’t as strong a team as they were last season, having graduated several key players, but coach Lara’s statement about Miami Northewestern last week—that, like Poly, they tend to reload instead of rebuild—is the general consensus. The fact that Poly didn’t just beat them, but beat them handily, is a great sign for their national title hopes. They held the Bulls to under 247 yards of total offense and only gave up one touchdown, a three run scamper. If their defense, which returns several important starters from last season’s historic group, is handling national powers like that, Poly’s remaining opponents must be even more distressed than normal to see a game against the green and gold approaching.
Poly wasn’t perfect, of course, as the passing game struggled to find its feet—starting QB Morgan Fennell completed only one pass in eight attempts during the game. But improving the less-than-stellar elements of the team’s performance can wait a few days—for now, Lara says, “Everybody’s happy.” The game, he said, will “help identify what we need to work on and what we’re good at. We’ve got a good team, and now we just need to keep it rolling.” With backs like Richardson and Barber, and a dominant O-Line like Poly’s, that shouldn’t be too difficult.
The ‘Rabbits’ next game will be on September 19th, at Vet’s against Newport Harbor High. They’ll need the next few weeks to recover from jet lag, as Newport is no slouch.