Long Beach Poly readies for Compton’s challenge on Friday

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Compton will come in unbeaten, but Long Beach Poly, no doubt, will have something to say about whether the Tarbabes remain that way after the teams’ Moore League game Friday at Compton.

‘We’re going to have to be ready. Compton’s a very good team, and they can really hog the ball,’ Poly Coach Raul Lara said. ‘We’re going to have to try to get some turnovers and then play well ourselves.’

Lately, they have been.

Behind junior running back Melvin Richardson, the Jackrabbits are riding a six-game winning streak and averaging 31.5 points a game since their only loss, a 20-7 setback at Birmingham, the No. 5-ranked team in the state according to MaxPreps.com, on Sept. 7.

‘We’re going to stick with what’s working,’ Lara said.

It has been working for a while now.

The Jackrabbits (7-1, 4-0), ranked sixth in the Southland by The Times and in the state by MaxPreps.com, will be guarding a 71-game league winning streak that dates back to a 28-0 loss to Long Beach Jordan on Oct. 21, 1994 and includes many victories over Compton.

The Tarbabes (8-0, 4-0), in fact, haven’t beaten Poly since 1979, when they prevailed, 21-14, according to the timely yearbook research done this week by some curious Compton officials.

I guess I wasn’t the only one who was wondering about that.

-- Lauren Peterson