The562’s coverage of girls’ flag football is sponsored by the Los Angeles Chargers.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
In every sport, the winning team is usually decided by talent, strategy, and execution. But sometimes, winning takes heart.
That’s how Long Beach Poly head coach Rob Shock made the most important decision of his team’s season, moving senior captain Aaya McLyn to quarterback. With the Jackrabbits trailing Esperanza by 13 points in the second half of Tuesday’s CIF-SS quarterfinal game, he wanted his team’s fate to rest with his best player.
“I just felt it in my heart,” said Shock after the game. “I just kind of turned to myself and said, ‘If I’m gonna lose this, I’m gonna lose it on her arm, and if we’re gonna win it, we’re gonna win it on her arm.”
The decision paid off, and the team’s emotional leader did what she’s done all year–lead. McLyn proceeded to throw three touchdown passes, helping the Jackrabbits score 18 unanswered points over an eight-minute stretch to pull off a thrilling 25-20 comeback win over Esperanza.
“I knew when Shock put me at quarterback, he was kind of counting on me,” said McLyn. “I knew that my team was counting on me as well. I knew that I just had to perform how I knew I could perform, and just show everybody the Poly standard.”
The Jackrabbits trailed for almost the entire night, and their backs were certainly against the wall when Esperanza matched its largest lead of the game with a TD pass from Ellie Frazier to Emma Gribben. That gave the visitors a 20-7 lead with less than 11 minutes on the clock, and forced Poly into desperation mode.
McLyn got to work quickly, and tossed a TD pass to Makayla Quesada to cut the deficit to 20-13 with around 8 minutes left to play. After the Poly defense got a much-needed stop, the offense drove the field again, and it was Brooklyn Richardson on the receiving end of the touchdown toss, cutting the deficit to 20-19 as the clock ran under 3 minutes.
Unfortunately for Poly, Richardson stepped on the foot of an Esperanza defender as she crossed the goal line, causing the player to fall to the ground. Richardson was called for a personal foul after the TD, meaning the Jackrabbits would be pushed back for their game-tying extra point attempt.
The Jackrabbits were unsuccessful on the conversion, meaning they needed another defensive stop in the final two minutes in order to keep their hopes alive.
Poly was able to handle three consecutive run plays from the Aztecs, using all three of their timeouts to stop the clock with 1:38 left. Esperanza was facing a 4th & 2 near midfield, knowing that a first down would seal the win.
They opted to keep the ball in Frazier’s hands, but she was unable to elude a blitzing Alex Valente, who pulled her flag for a clutch tackle for loss, giving the ball back to Poly’s offense with just over 90 seconds left.
“That was Long Beach Poly’s life on the line right there,” said Shock of Valente’s heroic stop. “The girls stepped up, they rose to the level of competition … I can’t wait to see the video, but Alex’s tenacity and her intensity to get that flag, I could see it from back here that she was not going to let that girl turn that corner. And I’m so proud of her, so proud of her for making that play.”
But there was still work to do as Poly needed to find the end zone once more. As the clock ticked under a minute left, McLyn looked down the field where she saw Janelle Morris streaking for the back of the end zone. McLyn was able to fire a strike over the outstretched hand of an Esperanza defender, right into the trusted hands of Morris for the go-ahead score, making it 25-20 Jackrabbits with just 49 seconds left.
“Originally I was looking at Ki’ele (Ho-Ching), but that moved the whole defense, and then out of the corner of my ear, I heard Janelle scream ‘Aaya!’ and I looked, and I was like ‘Yes!,’” explained McLyn, with the enthusiasm of a kid on Christmas morning. “But then I saw the safety scooted over, and I knew I would have to thread the needle. So I lined it up, and I just like, BOOM. And I knew Janelle was gonna catch it, because she was just so confident.”
It was up to the Poly defense to record one final stop, and that’s exactly what they did. Valente recorded a clutch sack to force the Aztecs into a 4th & long situation, and Neffy Williams stepped in for a game-sealing interception. After Esperanza took that 20-7 lead with under 11 minutes left, they didn’t gain another first down as Poly rattled off 18 straight points for the win.
“Being able to get that interception, to seal the deal for my team, itt was a big thing,” said Williams. “I know our seniors are really counting on every single one of us to take this home for them, and they want to leave with the ring as much as we do. And I know it means a lot for everybody to have that game-sealing interception, as well as Janelle, too. She did a great job catching the ball, and I was really confident that we were going to win, because we’ve had games like this before. I knew I could count on my team to put all of our heart on the line to win.”
Esperanza was able to take a 13-0 lead in the first half after scoring on each of their first two drives. Gribben had all three TDs for the Aztecs, catching a pair from Frazier and running in another after hauling in a lateral. Frazier was a consistent playmaker for Esperanza, running the ball effectively and also collecting a pair of interceptions on defense.
Poly was able to crack the scoreboards in the closing minutes of the first half as McLyn was on the receiving end of a TD toss by Kenzie Paimany, elevating over her defender for the grab before running in for the score. That made it a 13-7 Esperanza lead at halftime.
Poly’s comeback moves them onto the CIF-SS semifinals on Saturday, where they’ll face a familiar opponent in Northwood High. The Jackrabbits suffered a 20-14 loss to the Timberwolves back on Sep. 14 in tournament play, and will put their season on the line once again in the rematch.
But Tuesday’s game was about surviving, and that’s exactly what Poly was able to do.
“I’m proud of our Jackrabbits. That’s what we do,” said Shock. “I talked to the girls beforehand about adversity, that we’re going to be down and that we have to step back up. We’ve got to make plays. All of the girls stepped up tonight, and I’m just so proud of them.”
Saturday’s semifinal is currently scheduled for a 5 p.m. start at Northwood High School in Irvine.
