Campbell, Poly Run Past Fairfax and Into a Berth in City Section 3-A Final

When it comes to running the football, Poly High is a force to be reckoned with. At least the Parrots like to think that.

“We know we can run on anybody we play,” Poly Coach Fred Cuccia said.

Friday night, Cuccia and Poly proved that point one more time, rushing for 224 yards en route to a 35-28 City Section 3-A Division semifinal win over previously unbeaten Fairfax at Venice High.

Campbell scored the winning touchdown on a three-yard run with 1 minute 18 seconds left to cap a seven-play, 67-yard march. Quarterback Lance Garcia’s 41-yard pass play to Gerardo Munoz was a key play in the drive.

Poly (10-3), which won just one game last year, was allowed to celebrate for all of seven minutes before Coach Fred Cuccia ordered his players onto the bus and headed for home to prepare for next week’s championship game against Lincoln. Lincoln beat Belmont, 43-6, in the other semifinal.

“I told them we weren’t here to play an amusement-park game,”’ Cuccia recalled saying to the Parrots before the game. “We came here to play a football game. People said nobody could run on (Fairfax).”

Although Fairfax (11-1) held the Parrots below their 268 yards-per-game rushing average, Poly’s 224 yards on the ground were enough to put the East Valley League’s second-place team into the championship game for the first time since 1968, when the Parrots lost to Canoga Park.

Senior running back Jonathan Campbell, who has rushed for 1,900 yards and 29 touchdowns this season, chalked up 164 yards in 29 carries and scored three times.

Teammate Jermaine Pledger added 46 yards in 14 carries.

The Parrots, who answered every Fairfax touchdown with one of their own, led 22-14 at halftime after safety Raul Torres returned an interception--his ninth of the season--93 yards for a touchdown as time expired.

Fairfax, which never trailed by more than eight points, scored on its first play of the fourth quarter on Mario Mattison’s 23-yard run, capping an eight-play, 64-yard drive. Fairfax added a two-point conversion, but the Lions were called for having an ineligible receiver downfield.

Quarterback Rahim Muhammad tried to run it in off the option on Fairfax’s next attempt, but he was met at the line of scrimmage by Pedro Medina and a flock of Parrots.

On Poly’s subsequent possession, the Parrots converted two crucial, short fourth-down plays in Fairfax territory to help keep the drive alive.

A four-yard pass from Garcia to Marlon McKinney gave the Parrots their second first down of the drive, which started on their own 39. Five plays later, Garcia hooked up with McKinney through double coverage over the middle for a 10-yard touchdown toss. But Torres’ extra-point kick was wide right.

Fairfax came back to tie it, 28-28, on Muhammad’s one-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion with 4:28 left.