Another windy city?

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

It doesn’t matter which way the wind blows this week because as far as Long Beach Poly Coach Raul Lara is concerned, it’s all been bad.

Lara and his team have spent most of the week indoors as a result of a school mandate prompted by poor air quality exacerbated by the Santa Ana winds, which blow east to west and have been depositing smoke from the Santiago Canyon wildfire.

‘It’s been blowing pretty bad out there all week,’ Lara said.

But an off-shore, west-to-east breeze is expected to start blowing in the Jackrabbits’ favor.

Long Beach Poly (6-1, 3-0) takes a five-game winning streak into its Moore League game against Long Beach Cabrillo. As of Thursday afternoon, the game, and Poly’s homecoming celebration, were scheduled to go on as planned at 7 p.m. Friday at Veterans Stadium. See a good roundup of effects of the fires on sports events in the area here in the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

‘I feel like we’re finally doing what we do best,’ Lara said. ‘We always knew we could run the ball, and the last couple weeks, we’re finally doing it.’

The Jackrabbits, ranked No. 6 in the Southland by The Times, have relied on junior Melvin Richardson, who has enjoyed his two best games of the season in the last two weeks.

Richardson rushed for 184 yards against Millikan on Oct. 12 and 110 last week against Long Beach Wilson. Last week’s 45-6 victory over Wilson was the Jackrabbits’ 70th in a row in league play.

Thanks to Richardson, Lara’s early-season concerns about Poly’s offense have eased somewhat.

‘We always knew he could do that,’ the coach said. ‘He just needed to be more dedicated and work hard. I think he sees the light now, and it’s paying off.’

- Lauren Peterson

- Image from northpb.com