Football: Lara skeptical of Long Beach Poly’s ranking

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Raul Lara doesn’t believe the assertion that his football team is the best in the Southland.

‘When I saw that ranking I was shocked,’ the Long Beach Poly coach said in reference to The Times’ rankings, which list the Jackrabbits at No. 1. ‘We have a lot of young guys. I told everyone we need to hurry up and take our diapers off.’

Why does Lara doubt his own team? Poly returns four starters on offense and none on defense, the first time the Jackrabbits have gone into a season with no returning starters on one side of the ball since they had to replace their entire offense in 2006.

Poly isn’t exactly easing its way into the season, either. The Jackrabbits will play No. 10 Servite--a team that Lara picked as a favorite to win the Pac-5 Division--on Thursday evening at Long Beach Veterans Stadium. After that it’s nonleague games against St. Bonaventure, Narbonne and Oceanside.

Asked about his biggest concern heading into the season, Lara said, ‘Youth. When one kid’s 15 and [his opponent] is 17, that’s a big issue.’

--Ben Bolch