The562’s football coverage for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Long Beach Poly alums Wendell “WoWo” Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Former Jackrabbits Wendell “WoWo” Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.
Before the start of the season Compton flag football coach Jason Carreras had one motto for his team: “Move Forward.”
The Tarbabes took a major leap forward Wednesday afternoon as they went on the road and defeated Long Beach Poly, 31-7. The win puts Compton in position to take a share of first place when they take on Millikan on Monday.
“We were locked in,” Carreras said via text. “And we made necessary adjustments at halftime to control it.”
The win was the first time Compton defeated Poly in any sport since the Tarbabes boys basketball team defeated the Jackrabbits during the 2019-2020 season.
Compton controlled the game for a majority of the first half, shutting out Poly until late in the first half when the Jackrabbits scored to take a 7-6 halftime lead. From the second half on, it was all Compton as Miah Gibson and the Tarbabes’ defense controlled the rest of the game.
“They had the energy,” Poly coach Rob Shock said. “They had the ball first. They scored and they just brought energy. They had attitude and they had a lot of life.”
After some halftime adjustments Gibson used her arm and speed to finish with two touchdowns through the air and one rushing touchdown. She was able distribute the ball to her playmakers with completions to Ariel Willard, Jalynn Davis, Venus Quezada, Valerie Ruiz, Sam Hernandez, Christal Clay and Audrey Baker.
Willard was a force on both sides of the ball as she also had two interceptions for touchdowns as Compton outscored Poly 25-0 in the second half.
“As a coach, I take that responsibility for not putting them in the best position all the time,” Shock said. “Compton made the plays that they needed to make and we didn’t.”
Carreras admitted that the Tarbabes talked before Wednesday’s game about Poly and Millikan already discussing a matchup to decide an outright champion before the season was completed.
“Compton was and still is mathematically alive,” Carreras said via text. “For them to dismiss us like that definitely lit a fire. We believe we can compete but we aren’t arrogant about it. Like I told my girls, that name on their jersey means something.”
While Compton kept their Moore League champion hopes alive, Poly will regroup as they look to their next game against Jordan on Monday.
“Today we met and we just talked about how we have to make sure we’re fundamental,” Shock said.
