Long Beach Poly and Jordan took the field in North Long Beach on Friday night and managed to get in 14 minutes and change before the players were sent off the field due to lightning strikes in the area, one of which struck less than a mile from campus according to a campus adminsitrator’s iPhone app. It was enough time for the Jackrabbits to prove the superior team as Poly continued its roll through the Moore League, 20-0.
“I’m a little disappointed we couldn’t play a full game but the quarter and two minutes we did play I thought we executed well,” said Poly coach Stephen Barbee. “It’s tough especially towards the end of the year, some of these seniors were looking forward to some playing time and we’d love to gain more experience for our underclassmen.”
Poly got on the board three times as sophomore quarterback CJ Montes hit Alex Austin and Kenyon Reed for touchdowns. The third score came on a scoop and score by defensive lineman Bryson Parham who was the happy recipient of a bad snap on a Jordan punt.
For Jordan, there were plenty of positive signs in the game despite it being a loss.
“I thought my guys played their hearts out,” said Panthers coach Tim Wedlow. Freshman Elijah Jones had an interception and running back Deshon Harris had two first-down runs.
Poly will visit Lakewood next week in their regular season finale, with a bye to end the season. Jordan will have a bye before finishing against Millikan.
The rules state that when officials determine lightning strikes to be too close to a football game, the teams leave the field and wait 30 minutes to see if the sky clears. Each successive lightning strike resets that 30 minute clock. Because the lightning didn’t cease–and in fact got closer–the game had to be called Friday night.
There was an option to continue the game on Saturday or Monday, but the schools’ administrations mutually decided not to do that in this case.
