The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
For the majority of Tuesday afternoon’s flag football showdown between Long Beach Poly and Saint Joseph, there wasn’t much separating the teams.
Both defenses hauled in interceptions on their first plays of the day, and every scoring drive was immediately answered by the opposition. But over the final 10 minutes, the unbeaten Jesters showed their mettle, scoring the final two touchdowns of the day to pull away for a 32-19 victory, asserting their No. 4 national ranking and perfect 10-0 record.
It was a frustrating setback for Poly, as the Jackrabbits rightly felt like it could have been their game to win. However, as head coach Rob Shock pointed out, there were just a few plays that needed to go the other way for his team to earn the win on the road.
“First and foremost, they are a great team. They’re very disciplined, they run great plays, and they’re consistent,” Shock said of Saint Joseph. “This was an opportunity for us to come and play a very good team and to see where we’re at, and what we need to work on to get some consistency. I think that’s what we’re trying to work on, trying to build that consistency.”
Poly’s Nefertiera Williams stepped in front of a Jesters pass to record an interception on the first play of the day, but the Jackrabbits were unable to capitalize as Analise Martins picked off Poly’s next pass in the end zone.
It was another Saint Joseph INT that set up the first score of the day as Maleah Minjarez returned her pick deep into Poly territory. That set up the first TD toss of the afternoon from Lexi Loya to Jaclynn Brennan.
The teams traded TDs for the remainder of the first half, with Kenzie Paimany hitting Malawna Green to tie things up before Saint Joseph went up 12-6 on a TD toss from Elizabeth Roel to Ella Torres. The Jackrabbits had just 37 seconds left to score before the half, and they delivered in one play as Paimany hit Aaya McLyn for a 60-yard catch-and-run TD, making it a 12-12 score at intermission.
Loya connected with Luella Volkoff on a key 4th down conversion, as she found her up the seam for a 25-yard score, but Poly again went to McLyn then other way as she hauled in her second score.
Unfortunately for Poly, they wouldn’t score over the final 14 minutes of game time. The Jesters used a methodical passing attack to work down the field and take the lead, with Loya hitting Brennan again to make it 25-17 Jesters with 8:05 to play.
Poly’s offense was unable to get a drive going, and by the time they got it back with less than 90 seconds to go, the Jesters had put the game out of reach on another 4th down touchdown, this time from Loya to Torres.
Poly will return to the field on Saturday with games against JSerra and Santa Margarita lined up. The Jackrabbits will be back in Moore League play on Monday when they host Millikan.
