Long Beach POly 39 - Eagles 7
Rabbits get some pay back.
PAC-5 DIVISION: No. 1 seed opens playoffs with a rout of Santa Margarita.
LONG BEACH, CA., November 16, 2007 – Last season, the Santa Margarita High football team began the year by beating Poly. For the Eagles' sake, they should have enjoyed it, because the Jackrabbits weren't about to let it happen again.
Senior kicker Jonathan Heinze kicked four field goals and junior running back Melvin Richardson ran for 119 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries as Poly earned a certain measure of revenge Friday night by crushing the Eagles 39-7 in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division playoffs at Veterans Stadium.
"There was a little revenge factor going into this game," Jackrabbits coach Raul Lara said. "They did a good job last year against us. We struggled in that game, we didn't have an identity yet, but we proved tonight, this is a different year."
Poly (10-1), which is the top seed in the Pac-5, advanced to the second round next week, where it will play at Newport Harbor, which upset Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 7-3.
The Sailors got lucky when Knights quarterback Dayne Crist, who threw for over 2,000 yards this season, suffered a concussion last week and wasn't given medical clearance to play Friday night.
This will mark the second time this season that the Jackrabbits and Newport Harbor will play each other. On Sept. 14, Poly handily beat the Sailors 34-7 behind a defense that recorded eight sacks, including three by Iuta Tepa and two by Jurrell Casey.
"Newport Harbor is still a new team for us, but we're not going to go into next week's game with a big head," said senior defensive back Vaughn Telemaque, who will be on a recruiting trip to Michigan today. "We're going to take things one game at a time, but our motto this year is. 'All gas, no breaks.'
"We wanted to make a statement tonight and I think we did that. All week, Coach Lara had talked to us about getting revenge and as soon as the whistle blew, we took it to Santa Margarita."
The Jackrabbits wasted little time getting on the scoreboard Friday night, scoring on their first possession when Richardson ran it in from 37 yards out.
The lead grew to 14-0 in the second quarter on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Morgan Fennell to Kevin Norell Jr. Just before halftime, Richardson scored again, this time from 22 yards to give Poly a 20-0 lead at the intermission.
In the second half, the Jackrabbits worked on their special teams as Heinze kicked field goals from 34, 28, 28 and 46 yards.
Poly's defense was also stellar, forcing five turnovers in the second half alone.
"Our defense was awesome tonight," Lara said. "We need for them to play like that every game. They put us in great field position all game long and we took advantage of it. But tonight was just a first-round game, you can't get too excited. But I hope there all like this."
| Long Beach Poly | 7 | 13 | 13 | 6 | 39 |
| Santa Margarita | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
LBP – Richardson 37 run (kick good)
LBP – Norell 5 pass from Fennell (kick good)
LBP – Richardson 22 run
LBP – Norell 22 pass from Fennell (kick good)
LBP – Heinze 34 FG
LBP – Heinze 28 FG
LBP – Heinze 28 FG
LBP – Heinze 46 FG
SM – Brooks fumble recovery in endzone (Maniaci kick)
By Ben Villa
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Long Beach Press-Telegram - Sports
