Poly’s sideline has always exhibited a quiet, sometimes not-so-quiet confidence, manifested in the constant upbeat chatter between players and backed by a veritable wall of supporters (seriously, have you seen their sideline, there are usually as many alumni there as players). It seems like it’s always been that way, maybe going back 100 years to when the program was founded. Compton, on the other hand, has a different kind of confidence: they have a youthful swagger, the kind of confidence that a newly remade program needs. Spend thirty seconds walking around their benches and you can feel it, an “us against the world” mentality that’s served them well in the last few years, and brought them into Vet’s on Friday with a 7-0 record.
Unfortunately for the Tarbabes, Poly surprised everyone by scoring 9 seconds into the game (off of a fumble forced on the opening kickoff), knocking some of the swagger out of Compton and temporarily dousing the fire that had been burning all season long. Indeed, after that first touchdown, the only ones who seemed to be making any noise on the Compton sideline were the coaches, which, as one coach put it, is not necessarily a good thing: “We got too many voices! Coaches, back up!” By the end of the first half, with Compton trailing 27-7 (the Poly game was, besides the Dominguez game, the only time they’ve trailed an opponent all season) the damage had been done to the Tarbabes’ sideline presence. The swagger had subsided, and tempers were flaring. One player was even stalking the sideline, trying to motivate his teammates by telling them to get hyped back up, or he’d “Punch anything moving in the locker room.”
But Compton’s sideline wasn’t the only one to stray from their norm, as this game saw a tamer, quieter Jackrabbits presence. The reason? After a contained fight broke out between Tarbabes and Jackrabbits out on the Poly sideline, the referees talked to Poly coach Raul Lara and Compton coach Calvin Bryant. Following the discussion, Lara had his entire team take a knee around him on their sideline, as though they were doing the post-game prayer. “We can’t get anymore personal fouls. We need to calm down and play with our pads. Just play football.” There were also some heated tempers between ‘Rabbits coaches after the brawl, after a mixup sent an unejected fight-involved player back onto the field before Lara wanted him there.
Anyone familiar with the basic geography of LA County gang territories will understand the other subtext of the game—even if there weren’t any actual gang involvement from anyone on either team, the fact that half the players on the field were from west and north Long Beach and the other half were from Compton is apparently enough to warrant a heightened police presence at the game. We counted at least six police officers on the field and around the stadium.
But what was it about the game that seemed to throw both teams (on the sideline at least) off their game? The answer is simple: both were so fired up, so emotionally invested in this game that, in the case of Compton, they couldn’t bounce back from having the wind knocked out of their sails, which have flown unchallenged so far this season. For Poly, they’re used to playing like a methodical juggernaut, locking down on D and running hard. In a game fraught with so much emotion, they had to actually bring down the intensity in order to minimize their penalties. Both teams play a passionate style of football anyway, but with the importance of this game, everything was amped up to dizzying heights.
An unfortunate aftermath of such high-intensity football is injuries, something this rivalry has seen too much of. For the second time in as many years, a Tarbabe left the game in an ambulance. Last year, it was Donald Green, who left with a rib injury. This year, it was Steve Faaluli, who was having difficulty breathing when he was taken off after the game.
With the passionate, high-level way both teams perform on the field (and with the “heightened police presence”), it can be easy to forget that these are all high school students, who care about each other and about their community. The Tarbabes were shaken up and emotional after watching the ambulance leave with Faaluli, some of them praying on the sideline well after the game was over. And after the game, Poly QB Morgan Fennell, along with Melvin Richardson, Darius Williams-Fox, Iuta Tepa, and Kenny Tuiloma gave a signed ball to Steven, seen below, a dedicated fan who never fails to cheer on his favorite team.
