Game of the Week : Banning Rolls Over L.B. Poly, 35-0

Win No. 150 in the coaching career of Chris Ferragamo was as impressive as it was memorable, as dominating as the score would indicate. And that’s saying something.

For the occasion, Banning High School of Wilmington, Ferragamo’s only home in a career that began in 1969, disposed of Long Beach Poly, the top-rated team in the Southern Section just two weeks ago, with the ease to more than support its No. 1 ranking in the state. No. 6 in the country by USA Today couldn’t be too far off, either, judging from Friday night’s performance at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach, a 35-0 win.

Senior tailback Archie Jean ran over, around and through Poly’s once-vaunted defense for 114 yards and 4 touchdowns in 21 carries, with a long run of 26 yards. Fullback Malili Fuamatu scored the last touchdown on a three-yard run with 6:08 remaining in the game and had 75 yards in 13 carries.

Ed Kapu, Banning’s much-improved senior quarterback, connected on all 5 passes in the first half for 74 yards and finished with 6 of 8 for 87 yards.

The defense took care of the rest.

The projected star for Long Beach Poly (1-2 after consecutive losses), senior running back Leonard Russell, had only 39 yards in 12 carries. That’s 83 yards in 23 carries in the last two games for the state’s top running back prospect.

Ferragamo entered the game with a 149-32 career record, including convincing wins over Fontana and San Pedro in 1986. A little luck never hurt in any of those games, and he got some more in the first half Friday.

Pinned down at its own three after a Poly punt with 4:03 to play in the second quarter, Banning turned a probable safety--and a possible Jackrabbit touchdown--into a 43-yard gain to set up a score of its own. Even when things went wrong for the Pilots, they went right.

Jean, a 5-8, 170-pounder, fumbled the handoff from Kapu, recovered it in his own end zone and found himself surrounded by Poly players. Appearing to be in the grasp of a defender, he flipped the ball to split end Michal Williams at the Banning five, and Williams simply turned that into a first down at the Banning 46.

Banning opted for conventional plays the rest of the drive, and very well-executed ones at that. Flanker Marvin Pollard split Poly defensive backs David Walker and Lolo James down the middle, and Kapu hit him for a 40-yard gain. Four plays later, Jean took the ball at the five, went around the left side, broke some tackles and scored.

That followed his seven-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and Banning led at halftime, 14-0. Jean added two more touchdowns on another seven-yarder on the initial drive of the second half and a two-yarder later in the quarter.

“Long Beach Poly is a good team, but we’re a dominating team,” Ferragamo said afterward, moments before accepting the game ball and doing a TV interview. “We played perfect at times tonight. . . . Offensively and defensively, we owned them.”