The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly athletics in the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by Poly alum Jayon Brown and PlayFair Sports Management.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly athletics in the 2022-23 school year is sponsored by JuJu Smith-Schuster and the JuJu Foundation.
The562’s coverage of Cabrillo Athletics is sponsored by the Cohn Family.
The Long Beach Poly team celebrated its 127th anniversary Homecoming game by putting up its third consecutive shutout, as the Jackrabbits’ domination of the Moore League continued in a 49-0 victory over Cabrillo, in a game where the clock started running at the beginning of the second quarter.
The Jackrabbits improve to 8-0 and 4-0 in the Moore League, with their combined league score 203-6 with games at Compton and at home against Jordan left on the schedule.
“We executed in all phases of the game and we got our young guys in, it’s great to see the young guys making plays,” said Poly coach Stephen Barbee. “It’s our starters job to get our twos and threes in and then it’s their job to make sure the standard doesn’t change no matter who’s in.”
There were plenty of reasons to celebrate for the Jackrabbits. With a third straight shutout, Poly will once again celebrate “Shutout Saturday” where they don’t have to be in the film room early in the morning. It was also the program’s 806th victory in its history, which now ties the Jackrabbits with Bakersfield for most in California history. If that weren’t enough, it was also Barbee’s birthday–the Poly student section sang Happy Birthday to him during the second half, and his team did so after the game.
Barbee said it was appreciated, even if he doesn’t enjoy being the center of attention.
“It’s definitely uncomfortable, but it’s been a true blessing to have them wish me happy birthday and tell me that they love me,” he said. “It’s a special time.”
The Jackrabbits defense held Cabrillo to 70 yards, as linebacker Dylan Williams and Isaac Johnson both got interceptions, and Luke Sefe recorded three sacks. Williams said that Poly was happy with their third shoutout in a row.
“We’re trying to come out and prove that we’re the best defense in California,” said Williams. “Every day we practice hard against the best offense, and we’re just trying to make a statement about who we are.”
Offensively, QB Darius Curry was 17/21 for 316 yards and six touchdowns, just one TD shy of the all-time school record for TD passes in a game. That’s especially impressive considering that his last TD throw came midway through the second quarter, which the clock ran during as well as the second half.
“I wasn’t trying to tie the record I was trying to break it,” said Curry, who completed passes to seven receivers. “We’ve got so many young guys, I’m trying to get the chemistry right with everyone.”
Poly has been hobbled of late, with RBs Devin Samples and Xavier Jones out, as well as starting receivers Jason Robinson and Raiden Brown. Curry leaned heavily on Jadyn Robinson (two TD catches) and Jordan Malau’ulu, who had five catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns.
With Curry sidelined for the entire second half, Poly ran the ball, with Karon Green putting the icing on the cake. The Jackrabbits led 42-0 with five minutes left in the first half, and throttled down after that, scoring just one more time on a run by Green in the second half.
The bright spot for Cabrillo was RB BoBo Jackson, who had 34 yards on 13 carries.
Poly (8-0, 4-0) will visit Compton next week while Cabrillo faces Jordan.
