The Poly sideline was silent. St. Bonaventure had capitalized on a 56-yard run by running back Devon Blackledge and tied the game, 7-7. The implications were staggering, as Bonny, like Poly, was ranked in the top 15 in the nation—title hopes were already on the line, even early in October. Defensive captain George Daily-Lyles broke the silence, roaring “Don’t worry. We got this. The D will put some points on the board.” That’s all it took. The ‘Rabbits sent the Seraphs packing with a three and out, brought about by a 4 yard sack by Iuta Tepa. The Poly special teams unit kept the momentum rolling when Ryan Willis blocked a punt to force the game-winning safety (not many games you can say that about). After a 32-yard Poly drive, David Skara knocked in a field goal to put the ‘Rabbits up by five with just over three minutes left in the game, setting up a classic Poly football finish.
With time dwindling, St. Bonny, after starting on Poly’s 25-yard line following a 70 yard kickoff return by Nolan Rodarte, was forced to go for it on fourth and four. Who does Bonny turn to for some offensive magic? None other than Patrick Hall, the senior running back who has committed to USC, who got the first. Three plays later, the Seraphs were forced into another fourth down situation. Quarterback Logan Meyer lobbed one up in the end zone, only to have the ball, and Bonny’s hope of winning, batted away. The stadium erupted. Coaches, players, fans, even Snoop Dogg participated in the celebrations. Poly knelt the ball to run out the remaining 30 seconds, and advanced to a 5-0 record. As usual, head coach Raul Lara gave the game ball to “the whole darn defense,” chuckling as he followed up with: “You better start giving me 11 game balls to give out.”
On offense Poly operated by their usual book: a struggling passing game (a total of 28 yards through the air) supported by a strong run game. Morgan Fennell did, however, notch Poly’s only touchdown of the night with an 11-yard completion to Stanjarivus McKay at the end of the first half. Still, it was clear that the Poly coaching staff was set on running the ball, as they kept it on the ground 6 times during their two minute drill before heading into the locker room for halftime. Running back Melvin Richardson was having a hard time hitting the corner against the quick Bonny defense, which forced the Poly coaching staff to give Daveon Barner the nod the majority of the time. It’s not that Melvin wasn’t producing (he had 17 yards on 3 carries to put the ‘Rabbits in scoring position on their touchdown drive), it’s just that “Daveon was hot.” And, as Coach Lara put it, “we like to give the ball to whoever is hot.” Daveon finished with 25 carries for 111 yards, part of a 250-yard effort from Poly.
I said it before in the Carson game: if you’ve got a defense like Poly’s, you can afford to struggle a little on offense. Think I’m wrong? Let the numbers tell the tale. Just 31 points allowed in five games, which, considering the fact that they’ve had the toughest preseason schedule of anyone in the Moore League, is an impressive feat. How do they do it? By always striving to be better. Rather than patting themselves on the back for their accomplishments, defensive coordinator Jeff Turley says he takes them into the film room and says, “Look, these are the things that we’re doing wrong. If we’re going to be this great defense that everybody says we are, then we can’t make these little mistakes.” We’ll see what the Poly Wall can bring for next week, when the Jackrabbits take on the Millikan Rams at Vet’s for Homecoming.