The562’s coverage of football in 2024-25 is sponsored by The Terry Donahue Memorial California Showcase.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
Getting to play on an NFL field is a special opportunity that any high school football player would dream about. The Long Beach Poly football team got to experience that dream on Friday night as they took on undefeated, nationally-ranked Mission Viejo on the Chargers’ home field of SoFi Stadium.
The game didn’t go the Jackrabbits’ way, as Mission Viejo played bully ball and snapped Poly’s two-game win streak over the Diablos. Poly had flashes offensively but the Diablos were in control, winning 49-14.
“We’ve got to do a lot better,” said Poly coach Stephen Barbee. “We came up short in the red zone, and on the defensive end and on special teams. Hats off to Mission Viejo—they’ve got a heck of a program and they came to play. I’m happy in our guys’ continued growth, but we’ve got to do better all around.”
The Diablos controlled the first half, piling up a little more than 200 yards rushing and chewing up a ton of clock. Poly got the ball first but turned it over on an interception by QB Deuce Jefferson. Poly sophomore defensive back Tae Wright got the ball back for the Jackrabbits with an interception in the end zone.
The Jackrabbits went on a long drive as Jefferson hit Kamarie Smith and Jayden Coley for big connections to drive into Mission Viejo territory, but a pair of sacks cut the drive short. The Diablos had a run heavy drive that ended on a Davonte Curtis touchdown run to take a 7-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Jackrabbits once again got down to the Diablos’ goal line thanks to a 40 yard completion from Jefferson to Coley, but the Diablos intercepted the Poly quarterback on the one yard line. The Diablos would go on to score three more times on long run-heavy drives, but Poly answered with a 70 yard touchdown kickoff return by Wright to get on the board. The Diablos scored just before half to take a 28-6 lead into the locker room.
The Jackrabbits scored on their first drive of the second half, as Jefferson guided the Jackrabbits on a drive that started on their own 35, hitting Coley and freshman Zion Anderson for big gains. Ben Harris sprinted in for a touchdown from five yards out to cut the Mission Viejo lead to 35-14.
That was all the scoring Poly would do, however, as an interception ended one drive and another stalled out in the red zone. The Diablos ended up piling up more than 300 yards on the ground as well as five touchdowns.
Jefferson had 225 yards passing and 90 yards rushing but also threw three interceptions. Anderson had 68 yards, Smith had 46, Coley had 60, and Dylin Bruce had 39 for the Jackrabbits receivers.
Long Beach Poly (2-4) will travel to Millikan next week in a game anticipated to determine this year’s Moore League champion. Mission Viejo (7-0) will have a bye before traveling to San Clemente.
