LONG BEACH – Long Beach Poly’s quest for its second consecutive divisional title ended abruptly at the hands of Mater Dei, whom the Jackrabbits defeated last season for the title, falling 30-0 in a PAC 5 semi final.
The Monarchs avenged last season’s 35-17 loss in the PAC 5 finals, which Long Beach took command of the game early on in the game and never looked back. They also evened up the all-time series between the two schools 5-5-1, all of the meetings in a playoff situation.
It was a reversal of fortune for the Rabbits as they couldn’t get anything going, with the first drive of the game going for three yards.
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Standout wide Receiver John “juju” Smith was held in check, getting only 13 yards on three passes, and finishing with 21 yards. Poly hoped to get Smith going, having him coming out of the backfield in the second half, but that didn’t fare any better as he compiled 31 yards on six carries.
“Yeah, we wanted to win the PAC 5 championship and the State, but that didn’t happen,” Poly head coach Raul Lara said. “There is a reason for everything. We will learn from this and move on.”
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Poly was able to get some offense going in the second half behind quarterback Josh Love’s 4 of 10 for 96 yards performance, 50 of which came on a bomb pass to Christian Pabico. Trailing 30-0 Poly threatened time and again in the second half but had each drive end on turnovers.
“We adjusted and tried to spread them out (in the second half),” Lara Said. “It seemed to work for a bit, but we made way too many mistakes tonight. How many was it, like six?”
After playing to a stalemate in the first quarter, Mater Dei broke open the game, scoring 20 unanswered points in the second quarter to put the game out of reach.
From the first play from scrimmage in the second quarter, Justin Allen took the handoff and went down the right sideline 90 yards for the first points of the game. He finished with 99 yards on 13 carries and the one touchdown.
Senior quarterback Chase Forest had an efficient game, going 7 of 10 for 150 yards and three touchdowns, including a 90 yard bomb to Jonathon Lockett in the third quarter to seal the victory for the Monarchs.
Poly ends its season at 11-2.
