Football:
No one wants to say it out loud.
But anyone that has followed high school football in the southern section over the years knows that Long Beach Poly is far too loaded and talented to be in the CIF-SS Division 4 bracket.
Even in down years, the Jackrabbits are a power program, and they’d be much better suited for D-2.
And to be clear, no one at Poly did anything wrong.
They played in the division they were assigned, and congratulations should be sent to that proud program for winning their 20th CIF-SS championship.
After a 7-7 first quarter, the Jackrabbits cruised to a 38-7 victory
Devin Samples was the star of the game.
Samples rushed for 225 yards and scored three TD’s on Saturday night.
The Jackrabbits defense controlled the Golden Knights throughout, as St. Francis could manage just 28 yards on the ground.
St. Francis’ lone score came in the first quarter, as they trailed 7-0.
The Golden Knights’ junior quarterback, Jack Jacobs, connected with Dylan Bell on a 20-yard TD to catch the Jackrabbits at 7-7.
But Poly would shut St. Francis out the rest of the way and claim their first CIF title since 2012.
LBP ended up defeating Trabuco Hills, Upland, Cypress and St. Francis by a combined margin of 178-38 in its four-game postseason run.
As well as Poly played, there is nothing from Saturday’s mismatch that can blunt a single accomplishment that SFHS achieved in 2021.
Dean Herrington, an eight-time CIF champion, led St. Francis to a title-game appearance in his maiden voyage with the program.
Herrington’s x’s and o’s have always been key to his long-term success, just like it did in 2021.
But if you’re inside the program or at least watch it closely from the outside, you’d know just how important and how well he transitioned in replacing the much-loved and late-great Jim Bonds, who passed away at 51.
Two things he did that meant everything to those inside the Golden Knights inner circle were 1) keeping almost everyone from Bonds’ long-serving staff, and 2) Herrington really invested the time to let his new players know he cared and had their back.
A number of players have told this writer how much respect they have for Coach Herrington, and how sincere he was in addressing any issues in their lives, on or off the football field.
Over the 2021 season, SFHS won a share of the Angelus League championship, outscored their opponents by a combined margin of 389-283, and most impressive, they earned a spot in the championship game for only the second time in 50 years.
The first name you think of when it comes to seniors and their contributions is captain Max Garrison.
But his fellow seniors, Dylan Bell, Alejandro Ramirez, Mayze Bryant, Daniel Hara, Jake Karadizian, Aiden Chisum, Amin Al-Jazayrly, Diego Jimenez, Samuel Oliver, Mher Baranian, Simon Lee, Myles Shannon, Andrew Howard, Duncan Sprengel, Sean Escobar, Peter Terry and Milo Orona all deserve credit for helping to continue the bar of excellence for that proud program.
Box Score:
LBP: 7-14-10-7-(38)
SF: 7-0-0-0-(7)
Records: Poly (11-3); St. Francis (10-3)