The562’s coverage of football in 2023-24 is sponsored in part by the MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center Foundation and Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital Foundation
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
For the second time in three weeks, Long Beach Poly will be playing football on a Thursday night. This time they’re headed up Atlantic Avenue for a showdown with Jordan as both teams will look to end the regular season on a high note.
With the Jackrabbits at 8-1 overall and the host Panthers sitting at 7-2, this is a matchup of the two wins leaders in the Moore League. Poly will be looking to finish off another unbeaten Moore League season–their 13th in a row, excluding the shortened 2020 campaign.
J-Town, on the other hand, will be fighting for its playoff hopes. A win would keep the Panthers with two league losses, and if Compton can beat Lakewood on Friday it would give Jordan the Moore League’s third and final playoff bid.
Even if Jordan can’t pull the upset, they’ll be looking to improve their resume for a potential at-large berth into the postseason. Based on current CalPreps rankings, the Panthers would likely fall in Division 8 for the CIF-SS playoffs.
In last year’s meeting between these two schools, the Jackrabbits cruised to a 63-0 victory at Vets. On their last trip to J-Town, the Jackrabbits won 42-0.
Jordan’s offense has put up numbers in each of the last three weeks, scoring 46+ points in wins over Compton, Wilson, and Cabrillo. This could be the last game for senior RB Jordan Washington, who has had a memorable career on the North Side. The Arizona commit has 1,316 yards from scrimmage, split equally between rushing and receiving, with 15 total TDs.
Junior QB JJ Nielsen recently eclipsed 3,000 yards passing on the season, and will look to back those numbers up against a talented Poly secondary.
On the other side, the Jackrabbits will be in postseason preparation mode, looking to get firing on all cylinders. Senior QB Darius Curry was a perfect 8/8 for 153 yards and 5 TD passes last week against Compton, and the Colorado State commit will look to keep the Poly offense in rhythm as the competition level is set to increase.
Defensively, Poly has looked more vulnerable than in years past, allowing 54 points in Moore League play with just one shutout. However, most of those points were surrendered against Lakewood and Millikan in the first two weeks of league play. The Jackrabbits have allowed just 12 total points the past three weeks with a more complete depth chart.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. in J-Town on Thursday.
All stats according to MaxPreps
