Poly Players Await Big Game

Long Beach Poly High’s football team still has three games to play before meeting Concord De La Salle on Oct. 6 at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

Jackrabbit players, however, openly acknowledge that ending De La Salle’s national-record winning streak has consumed them since the game was announced in January.

De La Salle was on their minds even before Friday night’s opening 37-0 victory over Westchester.

And why not?

Poly is ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today. De La Salle, which extended its streak to 114 games Saturday with a 56-14 victory over Clovis Buchanan, is ranked No. 2

Poly plays defending City Section champion Wilmington Banning, Harbor City Narbonne and Fontana before hosting De La Salle.

“It’s difficult not to think about De La Salle--that’s like a national championship game,” Poly lineman Winston Justice said after the victory over Westchester. “I’m worried about Banning, Narbonne and Fontana, but De La Salle is going to be in the back of our minds all the time.”

Standing in Poly’s way of possibly making history might be Santa Ana Mater Dei, Poly’s opponent in three of the last four Southern Section Division I championship games.

Mater Dei, which defeated Fallbrook, 26-17, in its opener Friday, plays at De La Salle on Sept. 22.

Pilot error: When it was scheduled, this week’s game between Poly and Banning looked intriguing to fans of interior line play.

Banning’s highly recruited Fred Matua, who plays both ways at 6 feet 3 and 278 pounds, was set to square off against Poly’s massive offensive and defensive fronts that feature, among others, Justice (6-7, 300), Manuel Wright (6-7, 315) and Marcedes Lewis (6-7, 225).

Those matchups fizzled, though, when Matua and two other Banning players were ejected during the Pilots’ 34-0 loss to Newhall Hart that included eight personal-foul penalties against Banning.

City Section and Southern Section rules mandate that players who are ejected from a game must sit out the next game.

Opening statement: Corona Centennial’s 27-23 victory over Rialto Eisenhower on Friday was an upset, but not entirely unexpected.

Centennial, the defending Division V champion, also defeated the Eagles in last season’s opener, 40-36.

After the setback, Eisenhower started an 11-game winning streak that included a victory over Mater Dei in the Division I quarterfinals and did not end until a 17-14 overtime loss to Los Angeles Loyola in the semifinals.

Centennial’s only loss came against Upland, which went on to win the Division II title.

“When we beat [Eisenhower] last year, it meant a lot because we came back after being down by 17 points at halftime,” Centennial Coach Matt Logan said. “So we never got flustered on Friday, even though we were losing, 14-0.”

Double clutch: The most heroic performance of the first full weekend of the season probably belonged to Diamond Bar kicker Kyle Edwards.

Edwards kicked a 47-yard field goal as time expired to give the Brahmas a 3-0 victory over La Verne Bonita.

Edwards actually made the winning kick twice.

The first attempt was nullified when officials ruled that Bonita had called a timeout just before the ball was snapped.

After another Bonita timeout, Edwards converted again, making Manny Saiz a winner in his first game since succeeding Terry Roche as coach of the perennial Division II power.

Booker watch: Lorenzo Booker, among the top running backs in the nation, gained 161 yards in a season-opening victory over Dos Palos on Aug. 31 and had 145 yards in a 51-18 victory over San Diego Lincoln on Friday that extended Ventura St. Bonaventure’s winning streak to 30 games.

Booker needs 1,913 yards to break the state career rushing record of 7,761 yards set by Dominique Dorsey of Tulare Union in 1998-2000.

Booker will likely face the toughest opponent of his high school career Thursday night, when St. Bonaventure plays Hart at Ventura High.

Dynamic debut: A 32-year-old, first-year coach is helping revitalize Encino Crespi, which was 1-19 the previous two seasons.

Troy Thomas, a graduate assistant at Fresno State last season and former defensive coordinator at Westlake, guided the Celts to a 40-6 victory over Rosemead Bosco Tech, ending Crespi’s losing streak at 16 games.

“Coach is doing a great job,” said junior linebacker Jeff Asher, who had 15 tackles. “The program is getting turned around.”

Said Thomas: “I don’t think we’ve turned a corner with one win, but our team has gotten a lot better from the time we put pads on. We have a long ways to go in terms of changing the mentality and getting them to believe in themselves.”

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Weekend Recap

BIG WINNERS

* Running back Marcus Lampkin of Twentynine Palms had 297 yards in 20 carries and scored three touchdowns in a 35-13 victory over Huntington Beach Ocean View.

* Matt Padilla of Riverside Arlington rushed for 275 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-22 victory over Corona.

* Los Angeles Washington, which was 0-10 last season, defeated Compton, 30-14, in its opener.

UPSETS

* Corona Centennial defeated Rialto Eisenhower, 27-23.

* Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills defeated Covina Charter Oak, 17-16. Trabuco Hills plays in Division II, but Charter Oak is a perennial Division VII power.

* Chino Hills Ayala played Santa Margarita to a 7-7 tie.

For more extensive coverage of Southland prep and colleges beyond the daily sports page, visit The Times’ Web site at www.latimes.com.

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Staff writers Ben Bolch, Martin Henderson and Eric Sondheimer contributed to this report.