Poly’s victory is boring, and it only has its defense to thank for that

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Top-seeded Long Beach Poly won its 17th Southern Section title Friday with a 13-3 Pac-5 victory over Crespi at the Home Depot Center Saturday night.

I have not yet talked to anyone who thought this was not a boring game.

Poly Coach Raul Lara’s answer: ‘That’s our defense. No one is as athletic or as fast as we are on defense. When you actually see it ... it disrupts my offense every single day. It’s just hard to emulate in practice.’

It is Poly’s defense that makes it such an intriguing possibility next week against Concord De La Salle in the state Division I bowl championship game, though a loss to Birmingham in its second game will probably keep the Jackrabbits from being selected by a committee of section commissioners on Sunday.

Vaughn Telemaque had three interceptions for Poly (12-1) and the Jackrabbits also recovered a fumble by second-seeded Crespi (11-3).

‘Whoever plays next week has their hands full,’ Lara said of the likely north representative, perennial power Concord De La Salle. ‘Whether it’s us, Birmingham or Corona Centennial, they’re going to have their hands full.

‘If we play, we definitely need to score against them. I told [television] that this should have been 21-3 at halftime. We shot ourselves in the foot.’

-- Martin Henderson

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