Category: Sports

  • Winning Streak Continues

    Winning Streak Continues

    Friday September, 28th was Poly’s football away game against Cabrillo. The game was held at Cabrillo. The score was 48-0, and yet another winning streak against Cabrillo.

    Timothy Gomez said that the game was good but could have overall been better, “I think the team could have done better.” said Gomez “The team worked really well together, though I still think that we need to work on some things.”

    Already within the first quarter at about 7:23 pm a pass was made resulting in our first touchdown of the game. The second touchdown was also a pass made into the goal, and by the end of the first quarter our score was 20-0. Starting off in the second quarter at around 7:52 pm yet another passing, resulting in a touchdown. A rushing touchdown was made at about 8:01 pm, and by the end of the second quarter the score was 41-0.

    As the game came onto it’s halftime show Guadalupe Bonilla from Colorguard said as they performed “It was okay,” and especially fun “when the Cabrillo marching unit/drill team” also did their performance. Bonilla stated that they “started talking to each other” and even took a photo together.

    Returning back into the zone and the third quarter of the game it was intense but yet no one from either team seemed to make any advances. In the final quarter the last touchdown of the game was made at approximately 9:01 pm and the game ending with the score of 48-0. In previous games, such as our Millikan game we won 46-15 and in Wilson 42-6. So far in the season it seems Poly’s football team has been racking up wins and will continue to do so, if they keep playing as good as they have so far or even better.

  • Boys Xc Moore League at El Dorado Park

    On Wednesday, September 26, cross country boys competed  in their first Moore League race against Wilson, Millikan, Cabrillo, and Lakewood.

    Three divisions raced at the El Dorado Park consisting of varsity, junior varsity, and freshman/sophomore. The race course was made up of  flat ground, with two one-and-a-half-mile loops to complete the three mile course. Starting with the varsity boys, a never before seen five man pack (consisting of Bautista, Daniel, Alexander Matos, Ronan McMahon, Zane Whittier, and Christopher Yontz) lead the way to the finish line with an average 15:48 finishing time.

    The remaining varsity runners  (Aldo Khiev and Devin Koval) tagging along with an average 16:10 finishing time. As the dust settled, varsity boys had crushed the competition, winning first place.

    Junior Varsity as well won first in their division, with the top seven runners (Ezequiel Barraza, Travis Bryson, Ethan Dwinell, Clark Boyce, Andrew Huerta, Marcello Murillo, and Adam Traut) averaging a finishing  time of 16:27.

    To end it off with a bang, freshmen/sophomore competitors cut the race close, but pulled ahead with the top seven runners (Nicholas Mejia, Nathan Jimenez, Daniel Garcia, Dominic Bakly, Adan Garcia, Jay Kumar, Pablo Lopez, Adrian Scancich) averaging a 17:40 finishing time.

    Poly’s own cross country boys team won all three divisions and are gearing up for the rest of the Moore League races as well as a number of invitationals, with the varsity traveling to Portland and Santa Barbara.

  • “SLAM”! Lady Jackrabbits Take A W

    “SLAM”! Lady Jackrabbits Take A W

    On Tuesday, October 2, the varsity girls volleyball team,  played against Cabrillo High School.

    The Lady Jackrabbits won all their games: varsity,  junior varsity and frosh/soph. When the varsity team won, the crowd went wild. Although it was an easy win for Poly, the parents in the Cabrillo section tried their best to root on their girls and boost their morale.

    Alexis Duran, varsity player, was excited before the game shouting to her teammates,  “Let’s get this win!”

    Although there was not a huge turnout for the game, the crowd was very energetic, giving off positive vibes and supporting their friends and family who were playing.

    As the game began, the Poly supporters  chanted but not as loudly as they could have so as to be respectful to the Cabrillo players.

    The JV and frosh/soph teams when easily and the Varsity team dominates with a 4-0 win.

    Every round the girls gave no mercy as they spiked the ball repeatedly, giving in to their enemies’ blind; the Cabrillo girls, sadly, had no chance against our powerful team.

    With a powerful strike  from Samoana Poyer, the ball violently hit the floor and the Jaguars frantically try to hit the ball back over the net but fail, bringing lady jackrabbits to their  ultimate victory. “Great Job Ladies!” yelled Billy Heak.“Well done ladies!” the volleyball fathers yelled in unison as the Jackrabbits honored each other’s success.

    The junior varsity girls volleyball team have an away game Saturday, October 13,  at South High School against South High School and  frosh/soph also has a game on October 13, at Lakewood High school against Lakewood.

  • Senior Looks Forward to Final Year of Water Polo

    Senior, Armia Adel Fawzi Kheir Metyas is enthusiastic when talking about his final year at Poly, “I have been playing 4 years. My goal this season is to go positive for win loss ratio.”

    For Armia, the sport is more enjoyable when you enjoy the company of your teammates. “It helps in physiotherapy, for my knees, also I just like the social aspect of it.” The time his spends with his friends on the team is what makes the sport fun. “The social aspect is great. Everyone is constantly pushing each other to get better. I get along with everyone.” Armia puts all his time effort into playing Water Polo because he finds it fun and challenging. “It makes me a better athlete both physically and mentally.”

    He goes on about his hopes for this season and his concern for the freshmen. He feels it’s understandable for them to struggle at first, it takes time to learn how work well as a team. His best advice for someone starting off in a new sport is persistence. “ I think persistence is very important. Being at practice everyday, working as hard as you can everyday. Whether it’s for the team for for yourself.” The first few games have proven to be difficult for both the new guys coming in and those ready to leave. Poly’s Varsity team lost against Edison [22-11]

    The next boys water polo game is tuesday, sep. 25. Vs. Pacifica (Garden Grove ) at 3:15pm at poly.

  • Water Polo Pictures

    Water Polo Pictures

  • Football Pictures: Serra & Millikan

    Football Pictures: Serra & Millikan

  • Lady Jackrabbits Demolish Panthers!

    Jordan vs. Poly’s varsity volleyball match was held in the big gymnasium at Poly High School.

    The match took place on September 11, 2018. Before the game started junior varsity played a game against Jordan’s junior varsity team. After junior varsity’s game was over, varsity began to run different exercises including stretching, running, and doing a preliminary round with just the team itself consisting of serving up the ball and hitting it back a forth to each teammate.

    It was very hot inside the gym so I’m sure that players on both sides were extremely exhausted during both games. Majority of the people in the stands were just sitting and they were sweating.

    In the first match in the varsity game Poly scored the first couple of points until Jordan actually scored. During the majority of the match Jordan was getting dominated the entire time. Poly easily tripled their score within the span of five minutes. At the end of the first match, Poly had a score of 25 and Jordan had a score of 5. Jordan got destroyed. After, there was a brief intermission for about 10 minutes. The second match went exactly the same as the first match. Poly dominated Jordan in the second game as well. With a similar score, Poly has scored 25 and Jordan 6. Varsity team member Victoria Verceles said, “This was not one of our most competitive games. Each team was working hard and we go the job done. Our chemistry was strong that’s why I think we have won the game”. The team was happy with the outcome of the game and is excited for the next game. The Varsity team’s next game is on September 20 for senior night at Poly against Milikan.

  • Jackrabbits Level Lady Lancers of Lakewood

    The Poly vs. Lakewood girls volleyball  game took place on

    September 12, 2018 in the big gym. Tons of people turned out to the game. It was a highly anticipated game against Poly’s own rival.

    According to multiple players this game was way more intense compared to the Jordan game. The team chemistry improved a lot and helped them strive through the game.

    The first round of the game poly and lakewood were going back and forth returning one point to point to each other. A very close first round but of course poly won the first round. The second round was sort of the same as the first. They both were exchanging points one by one but lakewood began to get a lead by four so it started to get more intense.

    But at the last seconds poly had lost the second round. The third round the seats started to become more crowded and more people from both sides were cheering each of their teams on.

    Poly had won the third round by four points. The biggest gap we had all game so the crowd was ecstatic. The rest of the rounds were the same were the same each of the teams only winning by no more than three.

    But in the final round it got way more intense. More intense then it has been the entire game because both sides were even and this was the making point or the breaking point of the game. Both teams were neck and neck the entire time.

    Then poly started to fall behind a little and lakewood had a small lead. When lakewood was five points away from winning poly began to start coming back. Then one final hit decided the fate of the game. And poly won!

  • The “Dedicated to You” Dance Show a Success!

    The Dedicated to You spring dance show took place on both the 19th and 20th of April 2018. The show was in the Poly High School Auditorium and lasted for two hours. This spring show consisted of all dance levels and classes.

     

    “The Dedicated to You spring dance show was a really fun experience.” Said proud PACE junior and dance team member, Sandra Rosas “Each dance was choreographed in a special way for a special someone. Before certain dances, the choreographers explained to the audience who their dance was dedicated to,” Sandra, personally took part in several of the choreographed dances.

     

    “I’m in tech, which is dance 7-8 and we performed about 4 songs. We also  performed Snap your fingers, which is a jazz song. It was a lot of fun, it took all of us about a month and two weeks to practice and perfect it.” Said junior Jessica Perez ”It was my first time ever performing so I was a little nervous, but practice makes perfect! I was a little sad when it was over, because it was a lot of fun performing with the other girls. Since I’m taking more AP classes, I unfortunately, won’t take dance again next year, but it was super fun,” She broke down the process of the dance and show as a whole as well as sharing her thoughts on dance class in general.

     

    “By the end, everyone was happy the show was such a success! I was so happy to dance alongside my friends, especially my senior friends. It was sort of a way to say goodbye before they graduate. It was also a great way to end off the year before the senior show,” said Sandra for the end of the dance show. The next upcoming show will be the Senior show with open auditions in about six weeks.

  • Is A Rivalry Blooming?

     

    Long Beach Poly’s softball team faces the Millikan Ram on May 3. Poly’s team lost against the Millikan Rams by a score of 15-3 on April 10. Last year, the Jackrabbits were able to defeat the Rams once and the Rams were also able to take a victory as well. These back and forth victories have created a potential rivalry between both teams, making this upcoming game very interesting for the Jackrabbits.

    This season has been very tumultuous for Jackrabbits, but Coach Elizabeth Sanches is both proud of and thankful for all of her athletes. Coach Sanches says, “I have a great group of girls, they have an accumulative GPA of over 3.5, they get their job done both in the classroom and on the field, and work very hard.” Coach Sanches is also very cognizant of her team’s needs. With 19 players of the roster she makes sure to, “manipulate the line up to get as many girls in as I can each game.”

    Coach Sanches is also bringing a new culture to the team. She wants to team to have a strong “fellowship”. “To celebrate the seniors on the team and the sport they all love to play.”

  • Moore League More Streaks

    On Friday, April 20th our girls swim team won against one of our biggest rivals; Wilson High School. Fernanda Garcia said, “Going into the meet it was super intense. Me being a freshman and all you hear the stories of the rival between Poly and Wilson.” Fernanda explains that she was scared but overcame her fears because her team’s goal was to do their best.

    They started off the meet with an amazing fr/soph medley relay. Freshman Aaron P. started the meet off with an impressive time of 26 seconds on the first event (Medley Relay).

    Anja Oca said, “I was so happy for our fr/soph team, I want all our girls to do great, but there was this one freshman, they call her ‘Aaron P.’ she really pulled ahead at the last second and was able to out touch the Wilson girl.” She explains that this was a great start and it really helped pump all the girls up and “raise the hype” of the crowd.

    Poly ended up taking the lead and won 105-51. Georgia Buffington said, “I was really proud of us, our girls for having an awesome meet. We put our all into it, won by a lot, and we kept our sportsmanship, so did Wilson.” This was the first year Poly’s girls JV team has ever beat Wilson making it another memorable meet.

    Moore League will be on Thursday, May 3 and our scholars and champions seemed to be ready. “I’m really excited for Moore League, I think we are going to do really great with our strong team. The good thing is we have wiggle room for the different events. Hopefully I reach my goal of winning the 100 free.”

    Tides are running high as Poly Swim approaches the Moore League Championship. Yesterday the girls held their own in prelims against a “very determined Wilson team,” said Kalani Caldwell, head coach of girls swim. They are “sitting in a good spot to win Moore League,” which would make it the “first time in history that Poly has won 3 years in a row.” All-star swimmers like senior Anja Oca are hoping to break Moore League records this year. Yesterday she broke the meet record with a 100 Fly time of 56.42. For non-swimmers, that means that she swam 100 meters in well under a minute. She is hoping to cut that time by more than a second for the finals. Other swimmers, like sophomore Erin Babbit, have shown amazing improvement on the road to Moore League. In prelims she dropped a whopping 7 seconds in her 200 IM and 5 seconds in the 500 Free to place in finals for both events. Quoting Kalani, “Those are the hardest events to swim!”. Boys Swim is not doing too shabby either. Swimmers like Christopher Correa, with a 50 Free time on a mere 21.91 seconds, show that there is a lot of potential for Poly to reel in a historic Moore League victory. Last year Poly Swim was the first Moore League boys team to beat Wilson in a dual meet since 1972, but were unable to secure the Moore League victory. WIth the progress our boys team has been making over the past few years, it is a definite possibility that they will be able to defeat Wilson and end their 44 year winning streak!Isabel 

  • Help Wanted: Poly Football Looking for Pierce Replacement

    After four years football head coach Antonio Pierce is leaving Poly. One of his main reasons for coaching here at Poly was his son DeAndre Pierce, who attended Poly and graduated in 2016.

    During his four years as coach he went 35-11, and made the playoffs three out of the four years.

    Before coaching, Pierce was a harding-hitting linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the Washington Redskins and the New York Giants, where he eventually won a Super Bowl. During his playing career he was known for his philanthropic activities with urban youth.

    “It was a great four years,” said Pierce, according to the Press-Telegram “I learned more about myself and how to coach and I created bonds with young men that I think will carry on for the rest of my life.”

    He now starts a new journey as linebackers coach at Arizona State University.

    “Antonio Pierce made a huge impact on us, he left us on good terms, he’s now the assistant coach and some will say it’s like a promotion,” said athletic director Robert Shock.

    Freshman Jake Garcia said, “He’s probably the best coach I’ve had up to this point. Not only is he super knowledgeable about the game, he’s also the type of coach that will push his players to become the best they can be off the field.” Coach Pierce made a huge impact on his players as some of them explain that he treated his players the same, no matter what their ranking was. Junior Elijah Juarez said, “I don’t mind him leaving because I know he’ll always have my back and the rest of the teams’. It’s not personal, it’s business.”

    Poly is currently in the process of picking a new head coach, “We are in the application stage, then we’ll put together a committee to review the candidates and set up the interviews,” said Shock.