This is a program that needs no introduction—if you live in Long Beach and you’ve got eyeballs, you’ve seen the stats. A 15-year, 79-game league winning streak (80 if you count their defeat of Lakewood in last year’s CIF semifinals); more players sent to the NFL than any other high school in America; 18 CIF titles, with the most recent coming the last two years. But, while the tradition is well-known, its standard-bearers this season are most decidedly not, as Poly graduated almost every starter (especially on defense) from last year’s team.
This kind of turnover is not new—there’s a three-year cycle at Poly, where one year the ‘Rabbits start predominantly a sophomore class, guaranteeing that after the first year of playing the youngsters, there are two years of dominance with a core group of guys who have grown up together. But the number of graduating starters last year was significant, even for Poly—”I haven’t seen it this much, as a head coach,” says coach Raul Lara. “When Jerry [Jaso, Lara’s predecessor] was here, there were a few like this.” Lara says the last time he can remember there being so many young guys stepping into starting roles was 2000—when the nucleus of Marcedes Lewis, Hershel Dennis, and others took shape as a sophomore class. The number of new players that have come out to fill the vacuum is staggering, with 260 kids signing up initially—and it’s a talented group, too. “They’re scary,” says Lara.
Indeed, a large part of the Poly coaches’ jobs this season will be evaluating, and sifting through the players they have at their disposal. “It is the unknown,” says Lara. “It’s really making us coach—but that motivates us as coaches. You can become complacent with kids that know everything.” It’s a process that’s very much part of the Poly history—and the school’s coaches have gotten so good at it that nobody we talked to is calling this a rebuilding year—instead, they’re saying it’s another Poly reloading year.
But, talent aside, the youth movement will be a big deal, with the Jackrabbits facing a tough nonleague schedule, even for them, and a Moore League that is definitely elevated, and sensing that now could be the time to finally snap that league winning streak (see below for full schedule and analysis). Lara and his coaches know they’re going to have to have a lot of. kids grow up, and fast. If they can—well, everyone wearing a gold helmet this season knows what happens for Poly players who stand out.
Post-high school success defines the Poly tradition as much as CIF titles, and that’s why Lara uses the schools’ past athletes as a teaching example. “There’s an expectation here, and I make sure they understand it. It gets their attention, to say to the receivers, DeSean Jackson didn’t do that, Terrence Austin wouldn’t have done that. Everyone here knows the history.”
This season will determine the 2009 Jackrabbits’ place in that history—but you can expect many of the players you get to know this season to be back in 2010 and 2011, too.
Poly Jackrabbits 2009 Schedule (Home games at Vet’s, 7pm start unless noted)
Week Zero: September 4th
Vs. Servite (Thursday)
Week One: September 11th
@ St. Bonaventure, 7:30pm
Week Two: September 18th
Vs. Narbonne
Week Three: September 25th
@ Oceanside
Week Four: October 2nd
Vs. Jordan
Week Five: October 9th
Vs. Lakewood, 7:30pm
Week Six: October 16th
Bye
Week Seven: October 23th
@ Millikan
Week Eight: October 30th
@ Wilson
Week Nine: November 6th
Cabrillo
Week Ten: November 13th
@ Compton
Schedule Analysis
“It’s been like that for a while,” says Lara when the strength of Poly’s schedule is brought up. “I can’t think of a time when we’ve had a light schedule.” You certainly can’t say they do this year—Poly’s four nonleague opponents were a combined 45-6-2 last season. What’s scary is that four of those losses belong to Servite, projected to be one of the better teams in the state in 2009. That first game, against the Friars—which is on a Thursday, at Vet’s, so you can expect to see a lot of other coaches there—will be absolutely crucial. For one thing, Servite may end up being the best team Poly plays against all year; it’s safe to say the Poly coaches will have a pretty good idea of what kind of team they’ve got on their hands after that game.
If there’s one thing about the schedule that’s a little easier than last year is that there’s no big travel game this year. But Poly’s going to need the extra rest—after their first four brutal contests, they open Moore League play against Jordan, and then Lakewood. In other words, their first six games are against six playoff teams from last year, and six teams that are hungry to knock off the defending champs—seriously, look at that, Servite/@Bonny/Narbonne/@Oceanside/Jordan/Lakewood. Yikes.
“We’re taking it one game at a time,” says Lara. “We have to—there’s nobody there that we can look past.” After that they get a breath with a sixth week bye before plunging into the remainder of the league lineup, including a final game at Compton. It’s an exhausting road, for sure—but Jackrabbit coaches and players alike are hoping they’ll still have plenty of work to do after the regular season is through.
Five Players To Watch:
Cory Westbrook, RB, senior #1
Westbrook has been exciting coaches and spectators alike since making his debut two years ago, as a sophomore. A knee injury (and a bevy of talented counterparts) have kept him mostly sidelined—he got 24 carries last year, and showed flashes of brilliance (including a 50-yard touchdown run against Millikan), but the question remains: can he stay healthy enough to be Poly’s featured back? Lara and the coaches say his knee looks good and he’s making crisp cuts in practice, which is good—Westbrook has been developing into a vocal leader this offseason (“He has to,” says Lara), but Poly wants him to be a top player, as well. He’ll split carries with Markes Jackson—his health will likely determine how great his opportunity is.
Corey Waller, DL, junior #99
Waller is the returning player who got the most playing time on last year’s defense—considering he was twelfth in tackles, it’s easy to see we’re not exaggerating when we say they graduated pretty much everyone. But Waller is a stout player with a motor, and the fact that he got a decent amount of time on the field last year as a sophomore is a good sign. The ‘Rabbits will need him to be disruptive and dominant, and get every last bit out of his 210-pound frame if they want to keep winning the battle up front the way they’re used to.
Dylan Lagarde, QB, sophomore #10
Poly lost a big part of their team last year with the graduation of Morgan Fennell—granted, Fennell didn’t rack up enormous stats, but the ‘Rabbits never needed him to. With a great running game and a stifling defense they needed him to keep them in games, which he did by throwing 15 TDs and only 5 picks in 2008. He was also an on-field leader—in other words, Poly’s starting QB this season won’t b inheriting a staggering stat-line to compete with, but he still needs to fill some pretty big cleats. Poly was still letting their quarterbacks compete as we were putting together this preview, but it looks like Lagarde will likely get the nod. “We’re having a great competition at quarterback,” says Lara, “And we do feel we’ve got three guys who could start [the lanky senior Chris Leachman and the sophomore Chaiyse Hales are also in the mix].”
Kaelin Clay, WR, senior #4
Clay is the kind of guy you want on your offense. He’s undersized, for sure, at 5’11”, but his speed and ability to improvise when a play breaks down make him an absolute nightmare to shut down. He was second on the team in receptions last season, behind the since-graduated Jordan Johnson (who is starting for LBCC this season), but led the team in touchdown catches (8), yardage, and yards-per-catch (an astounding 28). Poly will likely still be a run-first team, but it’ll be nice for them to know they’ve got a CIF Masters sprinter split out wide as well. “We’ve got eight guys behind him who we think can also play for us,” says Lara, “But they’re young.”
Andrew Suttles, LB/TE/DL, senior #9
On their hundred-player roster, Poly has only four players who are listed as playing both offense and defense. Suttles is the only one who’s listed at three positions, which gives you an idea of the physical capabilities this 6’2″ 215-pound senior has. He’ll likely see the bulk of his on-field activity at the linebacker position, where a team that graduated one of its all-time greatest ‘backer classes last season could definitely use some senior leadership thrown in there with all the young guys.