Long Beach Poly Simply Too Quick for Fontana

Kareem Kelly of Long Beach Poly, the defending state champion in the 200 meters, showed his speed Thursday night against Fontana.

The senior wide receiver scored three touchdowns as Long Beach Poly defeated the Steelers, 28-14, at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

Kelly scored on a 13-yard reverse in the second quarter and on touchdown pass plays of 44 and 27 yards in the pivotal fourth quarter as Long beach Poly (4-0), the defending Southern Sectin Division I champion, extended its winning streak to 18 games.

Chris Lewis completed 15 of 23 passes for 244 yards and three touchdowns as Long Beach Poly overcame three first-half turnovers.

The score was 14-14 with 4:32 left in the game when Lewis rolled to his left, set up, and threw a pass 44-yards to the goal line along the left sideline. Kelly outran the Fontana secondary and caught the ball in the end zone for what proved to be the winning touchdown.

“Basically, Chris is comfortable with my speed,” said Kelly in an understatement. “He feels he can put the ball out there and I can go out and get under it.”

Kelly clinched the victory when he caught a slant pass with 1:17 left and broke a tackle en route to a 27-yard scoring play.

“Fontana is a great team--we knew this was going to go to the fourth quarter,” said Lewis, who also connected with Samie Parker for a 35-yard scoring play in the first quarter. “My job is to get the ball into the hands of big-time players like Kareem.”

Kelly finished with three catches for 91 yards. David Word was the Jackrabbits’ top rusher with 59 yards in 13 carries. He also caught five passes for 46 yards.

Poly defensive back Darrell Rideaux intercepted a pass in the end zone, returned a kickoff 50 yards and also blocked a potential tie-breaking 42-yard field goal attempt on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Marquis Starks gained 129 yards in 25 carries and scored twice on 1-yard runs in the first half for Fontana (3-1). Fontana quarterback Scott Shepard completed 15 of 31 passes for 137 yards.

The score was tied, 14-14, at halftime as Fontana took advantage of two of Long Beach Poly’s three first-half turnovers. But Long Beach Poly linebacker Dennis Link led a defense that shut out the Steelers the rest of the way.