Category: Sports

Eleven Poly wrestlers traveled to Santiago and wrestled at the CIF Individuals Tournament on February 21 and 22.  Four of the wrestlers placed at the tournament and qualified to compete at the CIF Master’s Meet the following weekend.

Last year, Poly was only able to send two wrestlers to the Master’s Meet.  This year, they were able to double last year’s output by sending four wrestlers to Master’s: junior Malik Livingston and seniors Sazar Barnes, David Martinez and Dominic Price.  Livingston, Martinez and Price received third place while Barnes received fourth place.  This was Price’s second time qualifying at Master’s.

“It’s a domino effect,” said coach Mike Hughes. “Especially in the play-offs, how your teammates wrestle affect how you wrestle.”

After Santiago, the four wrestlers traveled to the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, CA for Master’s.  Unfortunately for the wrestlers, Master’s did not unfold like CIF Individuals did.  Barnes, Livingston and Martinez were unable to make it to the second day of wrestling.  Price was the only one to wrestle another day.

“You feel it as soon as you step off of the mat,” said Barnes. “You start thinking you could’ve wrestled harder and you start thinking about what you could’ve done differently.”

Wrestlers who place at least ninth at Master’s become qualified to wrestle at the State tournament at the Rabobank Arena in Bakersfield.  Price had the opportunity to do that.

In the last match of the weekend, Price wrestled for ninth place.  Unfortunately, Price was called for interlocking hands while his opponent was considered to be on his knees.  This was a technical violation, which resulted in his opponent being awarded one point.  By the end of the match, Price lost by that one point and was not qualified to wrestle at State.[pullquote align=”left” speaker=”Dominic Price”]I gave it my all. I’m sad it ended the way it did, but I had a great season.[/pullquote]

“I gave it my all,” said senior Dominic Price. “I’m sad it ended the way it did, but I had a great season.”

Although the wrestling season is over, there will be off-season tournaments held every Saturday after March 8 (CIF State Tournament) at different locations.  The whole wrestling team is anxious to enter the off-season and polish their skills.

The wrestling team faced off at Jordan on Thursday, January 30 for the last Moore League dual meet of the season for both teams.

The Jackrabbits came out strong with back-to-back pins in the 106- and 113- pound classes from junior Enrique Luna and freshman Elijah Nastor respectively to give Poly a 12-0 lead.  This was Nastor’s first ever varsity match.

“I thought I was going to lose badly,” said Nastor. “I thought I was going to get beat up and get humiliated, but I somehow won and I was able to get my hand raised.”

The Panthers picked it up and were able to get on the board with a 14-0 major decision in the 120-pound class give them four points.  They then added six more to their score with a pin the 126-pound category, making the score 12-10 with Poly leading by two points.

In the 132-pound class, sophomore Amahn Mallet was able to win with a 7-3 decision to add three more points to Poly’s score.  Both teams did not have a 138 pound wrestler, so neither team received points in that weight class.

Jordan got a pin in the 145-pound category and a 9-3 victory in the 152-pound category.  These victories gave the Panthers a four point lead with the score 19-15.

Jordan did not have any wrestlers in the 160-, 170-, 182-, and 195- pound classes.  Seniors Elia Taase and Sazar Barnes along with juniors Malik Livingston and William Hillard got their hands raised without breaking a sweat.  These byes gave Poly a total of 24 points and gave the Jackrabbits the lead with 39-15.

With the last actual match of the night, in the 220-pound class, Jordan was able to get the pin to help minimize the lead by six points.  Poly did not have a 285-pound wrestler and Jordan received another six points, making the final score 39-31.

“I believe we can have at least seven Moore League champions this year,” coach Mike Hughes said.

The Jackrabbits look to host and prepare for the Moore League Individual Finals on Saturday, February 15.

“Although we won as a team, Jordan won more actual wrestling matches than us,” said coach Brian Johnson. “We need to be more hungry to win.”

The Poly girl’s water polo team entered Moore League competition. On Thursday, January 16 the girls played Wilson high school, losing 17-7. The previous week, the team played the Mission Viejo Diablos, and lost, 7-6.

The girls played the Wilson Bruins. The Bruins are the toughest competition for the Jackrabbits in the Moore League.

 “If we put our minds into it, we can win,” said sophomore Taylor Martin. Unfortunately for the Jackrabbits, the Bruins were too tough of a match. [pullquote align=”left” speaker=”Taylor Martin”]We kept playing hard throughout the entire game. Next year we can definitely bring it.[/pullquote]

Going into halftime, the score was in favor of Wilson: 8-4.

“We didn’t give up,” said sophomore Carina Monaco. Monaco scored one point in the game. The girls on the team agreed that their team played really well against  a tough opponent.

The Jackrabbits also played Mission Viejo, the previous Thursday. The Diablos took the early lead going into halftime 5-2. The Jackrabbits started to make a comeback in the second half, shutting out the Diablos in the fourth quarter.

Two scores were made by freshman Julia Mangandi and senior Taylor Dorsey. Senior goalie Sinclair Taylor had six saves throughout the game.

“We kept playing hard throughout the entire game,” said Martin. “Next year we can definitely bring it.”

The next Moore League game is against Lakewood, followed by Jordan and Millikan.

 “We play them as if they’re Wilson” said sophomore Kamren Phillips.

The team is relatively young, with three underclassman starting. For many, this is their first year starting in varsity positions. Freshmen Julia Mangandi and Bayla Foreman, sophomore Carina Monaco and sophomore Taylor Martin are all starting.

The boys basketball team (13-6, 4-0) beat Compton in a nail-biting 70-68 victory on Wednesday, January 15 to extend their Moore League winning streak to 54 games, including past seasons. Senior Kameron Murrell scored 23 points, senior Chris Sullivan scored 15 points, and junior KJ Feagin scored 14 points in a game that came down to the last 0.9 seconds.

“Compton was a really fast-paced team, so our game plan was to slow them down and get them to play a half court set,” said Murrell.

Poly did more than shut them down in the first quarter, where they quickly gained the lead with an And-one from junior Jordan Dallas, and back-to-back three-pointers from Murrell. Senior Jeff Calhoun’s steal that led to a crowd-roaring dunk from Sullivan ended the quarter with Poly leading 28-16.

In the second quarter, Compton stopped Poly’s momentum. The boys tried to push the lead with And-one plays from Murrell and Sullivan, but the quarter belonged to Compton with the score at halftime being 40-32.

“Throughout the whole year, we’ve had really tough third quarters. Teams we’ve played throughout the year have come back during the third quarter,” said Murrell. An And-one play from Compton and a technical foul called on Poly swayed the game in Compton’s direction. Poly responded with another three from Murrell (he would finish with five threes), baskets from Feagin and Sullivan and a defensive stop. Compton still owned the third quarter though it still ended 56-51, Jackrabbits.

Compton surged ahead, and with 4:20 minutes left in the last quarter, took the lead for the first time, 60-59. The game came down to the last 28 seconds when, with Poly leading 66-62, Compton fouled Feagin. Feagin showed robotic poise when he sunk both free throws.

“I thought, just gotta make the shot and put us in a position to win,” said Feagin.

[pullquote align=”center” speaker=”KJ Feagin”]I thought, just gotta make the shot and put us in a position to win.[/pullquote]

That should’ve sealed the deal, but Compton made a four point play with 13.3 seconds left. Compton again fouled Feagin, who sunk two more free throws. After Compton scored a quick basket, Poly held possession of the ball on an inbound play with 2.8 seconds to go and led by two points. The ball was inbounded to Murrell, whose momentum carried him out of bounds, his feet just millimeters off the line.

“I was just trying to hold myself until time ran out. We had to regroup as a team. It was kind of like the Millikan game,” said Murrell. The week before, Poly beat Millikan 72-70 when Millikan missed a tip-in with 1.6 seconds to go.

At 0.9 seconds, flashbacks from the Millikan game occurred when Compton missed the tip-in from the inbounds play for the Poly win.

Unfortunately, that effort alone will not earn Poly a win at Compton’s home court. In addition to the spirited fans, Poly will face an improved team on February 5th.

“They’ll be more comfortable with us, and probably attack us more,” said Calhoun.

In the meantime, the boys will try to extend their winning streak against the Lancers at Lakewood high school today.

The girls basketball team (13-1, 4-0) has beaten every Moore League team by at least 45 points this year. They blew out Compton (96-10) last Wednesday, January 15. Freshman Danae Miller and senior Arica Carter scored 22 and 14 points respectively. On Friday, January 10 and Monday, January 13, Poly also routed Jordan and Cabrillo with scores of 90-17 and 81-31, respectively. However, the most remarkable game was the 75-30 crushing of the second-best Moore League team, Millikan, on Wednesday, January 8.

“I think as a team we really played well, we came out and jumped on top of them early, and it sent them back to where they couldn’t respond,” said head coach Carl Buggs.

With their new senior transfers Lajahna Drummer and Emoni Jackson eligible to play, Poly’s defense nearly had a first half shutout when the second quarter ended 38-6, Poly. Poly, now subbing up to five players at a time, continued to pull away even with their bench playing most of the minutes.

The girls basketball team has won CIF and State titles, but has never won national championships. Poly has the talent to win a national championship, but they are not at full strength.

“One of the things we’re faced with is we’re really banged up. We have five kids hurt, and three kids who also cannot play because of team academic standards,” said Coach Buggs.

Poly will try to build their chemistry today, January 21 at Lakewood.

The Jackrabbits wrestled Millikan on Thursday night, January 9 as their first home match of the season.  Poly was blown out, 45-23.

Poly did not have a 106- pound wrestler, which put Millikan already ahead by six points.  Despite their lead, the Jackrabbits looked to come out strong with back to back wins from juniors Enrique Luna and Chris Lavery:  a pin from Luna and a win by points from Lavery.   

“I felt pretty pumped after my pin,” said Luna. “And then after Lavery’s win, I kind of thought we had a chance to beat Millikan.”

From there, however, Millikan was able to pin in the 126-, 132- and 138- pound categories.  The three in a row pins gave the Rams 18 points.  Senior Clancy Baker, one of Poly’s returning starters, broke the pin streak by winning in the 145- pound category, 7-4.

After Baker’s win, the Rams were able to pin two more Jackrabbits and put 12 more points to their score.  Senior Sazar Barnes, another returning starter, broke that pin streak with an 8-5 win.  Poly then suffered their first and only loss by points in the 182 pound category.  Junior Malik Livingston and senior Dominic Price won their matches, 6-5 and 11-5, respectively.  The night was ended with a Millikan pin to seal a Poly loss, 23-45.

“I wanted to beat Millikan,” said Barnes. “But there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’ and I can’t wrestle 14 guys.  I’ll just have to wait for individual finals.”

Overall, Poly won six out of 14 matches.  All five returning starters won their matches. All of the eight matches the Jackrabbits lost were by first year Varsity wrestlers, seven of those losses were pins which gave Millikan 40 points.

“Millikan came out like they wanted to wrestle,” said coach Mike Hughes.  “Now, we have to practice hard for second place in Moore League.”

Poly then faced Wilson last Thursday January 16^th and lost (39-38).  The specifics of this match could not be reported due to time restraints.  Their next match will be on January 23 at Lakewood.