A rough night

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The most harried and harassed player on the field for Long Beach Poly in its 20-7 loss to Birmingham was junior quarterback Morgan Fennell, who was especially bothered by the Patriots’ senior defensive end, Malik Jackson.

Fennell completed 10 of 21 passes for 114 yards, but was under stress trying to rally the Jackrabbits down the stretch.

He was sacked and fumbled the ball away to Jackson with 10:07 to play. Birmingham failed to capitalize on that turnover, but the Patriots took advantage of another one by Fennell on Poly’s next possession.

Fennell’s pass was intercepted by Okechukwu Meke at the Poly 22 and returned to the Jackrabbits’ two-yard line with 7:24 left. That mistake led to Birmingham’s third score and turned a 12-0 lead for the Patriots into an insurmountable 20-0 advantage after running back Milton Knox scored on a one-yard plunge and then ran for a two-point conversion with 7:16 remaining.

After the ensuing kickoff, Fennell lost the handle on the ball and fumbled it backward to the Poly two-yard line with 7:01 left. The Jackrabbits recovered the fumble but were unable to move the ball effectively and punted three plays later.

Poly finally scored its only touchdown with 1:27 left.

But it was too little, too late.

- Lauren Peterson