Poly’s big win shows an unfortunate trend

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As far as I know, I’ve never been part of a post-game speech. But I was included in Raul Lara’s talk to his Long Beach Poly players after their 34-7 victory over Newport Harbor.

Here’s how it played out over the course of the night:

Poly goes down the field on its first possession and it’s, like, an incredibly quick team. Morgan Fennell passes to Patrick Walker and it’s 7-0.

Then its defense holds Harbor to nothing and forces a punt, but there is a bad snap, the punt gets blocked and Iuta Tepa catches it at the four-yard line and carries it in to make it 14-0.

After another three-and-out that forces Harbor to punt from its five, Poly gets a short field and covers 32 yards in five plays with Ricky Johnson scoring from the six to make it 21-0 with 10:29 left in the second quarter.

By this time, I’m wondering how Poly could have possibly lost last week to Birmingham (by 20-7, no less) , and I’m already asking myself if there’s anybody who can beat this Jackrabbit team.

But in the second half, Poly looked average. Maybe the Jackrabbits were bored. They certainly weren’t the same team they were in the first half. Sure, they scored on their final two drives of the night, and they also got inside the five without scoring, but they didn’t finish off Newport the way real champions finish off opponents.

Then I considered something: Poly opened up a lead on Cleveland Glenville in the Ohio vs. USA Classic and held on. Then they lost to Birmingham badly. Then they got a big lead on Harbor only to sputter toward the finish.

So I asked Lara afterward: Are you guys soft mentally?

‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘That’s something we’re working on right now. I think we’re too relaxed, that’s what it is.’

Then Lara cut of the interview to address his team, pointed at me (no doubt so they could recognize me on the street and offer me a helping hand) and challenged them: ‘The first question he asked me was are you weak-minded,’ Lara told them. And there was that rustle of ‘I ought to clobber that guy,’ amongst the players, but the coach quickly pointed out that it was a legitimate question. ‘Even the media has noticed,’ he said, making it sound like the media is lucky to notice anything.

Lara excused his players, came over and thanked me. ‘I didn’t know what I was going to tell them,’ he said.

Relaxed or bored, lackadaisical or soft mentally, one thing was certainly evident from Poly’s fine victory: it might be the most talented team in the Southland, but it can’t win just by showing up.

- Martin Henderson