Long Beach Poly Dominates St. Paul

Long Beach Poly used its size and speed to completely dominate Santa Fe Springs St. Paul in a 28-7 Southern Section Division I quarterfinal victory Friday night at St. Paul.

The top-seeded Jackrabbits (12-0) advanced to the semifinals, where they will play fourth-seeded Anaheim Esperanza (11-1), a 30-10 winner Friday night over Fontana A.B. Miller.

Poly, trying to reach the championship game for the fourth consecutive season, shut down St. Paul (7-5) until the fourth quarter and held running back De’Andre Scott to 45 yards in 15 carries. The Swordsmen had only 116 yards.

“They’re just much quicker and much more physical than we are,” St. Paul Coach Marijon Ancich said.

The only thing that marred Poly’s effort was 17 penalties, several of them personal fouls.

“It’s a pretty good group,” Poly Coach Jerry Jaso said of the defense. “They have to play a little smarter than they did today. If they do that, they could be just as good as the ’85 team or maybe the ’93 or ’94 teams.”

Junior running back Hershel Dennis rushed for 109 yards in 18 carries for Poly. But he was held in check by a gritty St. Paul defense until breaking loose for a 49-yard touchdown with 3:35 left.

St. Paul made the Jackrabbits work early on. Using different blitz packages, the Swordsmen forced Poly to punt on its first two possessions.

But on their third possession, the Jackrabbits started with two runs by Dennis for 24 yards. St. Paul forced them into a fourth-and-13 situation at the St. Paul 33-yard line, but quarterback Markee White found 6-foot-6 tight end Marcedes Lewis for an 18-yard gain.

White continued to go to his receivers. He found Joshua Hawkins for an eight-yard gain to move the ball to the six.

Dennis, who had 48 yards in the first half, was stopped for a three-yard loss on third and one. Facing fourth and four, Jaso opted against the field-goal attempt and went for more.

Hawkins, a 6-2 senior, was able to get loose and draw coverage by 5-6 Michael Weber. Hawkins easily caught the pass from White and shook Weber loose as he danced into the end zone.

“We just had to figure out when they were going to blitz,” Jaso said.