Poly Quickly Shows Its Winning Ways

The Jackrabbits are as quick as advertised. Any questions about that can be easily answered with a phone call to Corona Centennial Coach Matt Logan, who will tell you Long Beach Poly is in a class by itself.

Poly, ranked No. 2 in the Southland by The Times, scored four times in the first half, three times from beyond 35 yards, on its way to a season-opening, 49-27 nonleague victory over No. 12 Centennial at Veterans Stadium.

The game was a matchup of defending Southern Section champions -- the Jackrabbits a clear favorite to repeat as Division I champions and the Huskies a contender in Division V.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable, their speed, their quickness is absolutely amazing,” Logan said. “There’s no way to prepare for that.”

Poly added three scoring plays of 29 yards or longer in the second half.

“During the week, we’re going against our defense all the time, and it’s pretty hard for us to execute in practice,” said Poly receiver Terrence Austin. “Stepping out here with a different defense, it was a big change. We were able to execute, able to make sure we catch the passes, able to make first downs, because the other team’s not that fast.”

Troy Guthrie rushed 10 times for 101 yards and had a 60-yard scoring run on Poly’s first offensive series -- after Travon Patterson had staked the Jackrabbits to a 7-0 lead on an 81-yard punt return the first time his team touched the ball.

Millicent Olawale completed seven of 13 passes for 144 yards and touchdowns of 29 and 30 yards to Patterson and Austin, respectively.

Poly’s second quarterback, Gabriel Thomas, completed only one pass, for 37 yards, and immediately followed with a 35-yard scoring run for a 28-7 lead midway through the second quarter.

Poly scored on its first four offensive possessions. Its second drive went 81 yards and included a 31-yard pass from Olawale to Patterson and an 18-yard run by Guthrie before Ellis Anderson scored from one yard for a 21-0 lead with 11:17 left in the second quarter.

Anderson finished with eight carries for 76 yards and another touchdown, a 47-yarder with 2:47 left in the game.

Despite the lopsided score, Centennial showed some offensive force behind running back Tracy Johnson and quarterback Chris Scott. Johnson rushed 29 times for 170 yards and one touchdown, a one-yarder to make it 28-7.

Thomas rushed 22 times for 68 yards and three touchdowns on runs of one, 17 and two yards. He also completed 18 of 30 passes for 136 yards.

They put up those numbers against a defense that had nine starters back.

“I was a little disappointed to give up 27 points,” said Poly Coach Raul Lara, whose team won last year’s contest, 46-20. “But we’re going to fix that.”