Long Beach Poly’s Lewis Honored

Chris Lewis sat in the press box at Veteran’s Stadium in Long Beach, staring down at the Long Beach Poly football team.

It was 1995 and Lewis was a quarterback for the Jackrabbit freshman team.

“We’d watch the varsity play and my best friend would say, ‘That’s going to be you next year.’ ” Lewis recalled. “It just didn’t register in my mind. I was just playing football. I had no idea it would take me this far.”

After Lewis, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound senior, led Poly to the Southern Section Division I title and a 14-0 season in 1997, he engineered 13 straight wins and a trip back to the Division I final.

He passed for 3,170 yards and 43 touchdowns with only six interceptions despite playing in a balanced offense and sitting out most of the second half during Moore League games.

He finished his career having completed 498 of 884 passes for 8,617 yards and established a state record with 107 touchdown passes.

Lewis, who will attend Stanford next year, has been selected winner of The Times’ Glenn Davis Award, presented annually to the top prep football player in Southern California. The award is named for the 1946 Heisman Trophy winner who attended La Verne Bonita and West Point.

“If we had wanted to put the ball up 40-45 times a game like some programs, Chris would have put up some really incredible numbers,” Poly Coach Jerry Jaso said. “This year, we figured he was going to have to have to make a lot more big plays, and he did that. He stepped up and made huge plays all year long.”

Lewis, who last week was named national player of the year by Gatorade and Scholastic Coach magazine, wasted no time making an impression this season. In the Jackrabbits’ opener against Carson, he stifled the Colts by calling an audible on their first blitz and throwing a touchdown pass.

Against Lakewood on Nov. 6, he passed for four touchdowns to break the career touchdown record of 91 set by Los Angeles Wilson’s Ron Cuccia in 1977.

In the playoff quarterfinals against Loyola, he passed for 361 yards and four touchdowns.

Mater Dei, which lost only to Concord De La Salle, held Poly in check for most of the championship game. Lewis passed for 201 yards, including two touchdowns in the final 10 minutes before Mater Dei recovered an onside kick and held on for a 33-26 victory.