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 Lakewood Athletics is sponsored by J.P. Crawford, Class of 2013.
Friday night’s football game between Long Beach Poly and Lakewood began with fireworks and ended with sirens. The Jackrabbits and Lancers did plenty of jawing on the field pregame as they came out of the locker room, but the teams ended up coming together for a prayer circle after the game as Poly sophomore Zion Anderson was put into an ambulance with a serious injury. The game was called with 1:33 left on the clock due to the injury, as the Jackrabbits took a 21-7 win over a Lancers team that’s clearly on the rise.
The game was long on off-field storylines–first-year Poly coach Justin Utupo is a Lakewood alum, and also coached the Lancers during a successful run that ended after last season, when he took the Poly job.
“I wanted to make sure tonight wasn’t about me, it was about our players,” said Utupo. “I have a lot of great memories here, we wanted to come out and execute and create more memories for our players.”
Things certainly started well for the Jackrabbits, as Colorado State commit Jaden Hernandez scooped and scored a fumble to put Poly up 7-0 less than 15 seconds into the game. But the Lancers bounced back with an impressive touchdown drive in response, going 63 yards in 14 plays for a score, punching it in on a 4th and goal run by QB Kade Casillas.
Poly went straight back down the field to retake the lead as Deuce Jefferson completed big passes to Jayden Coley and then a touchdown pass to Zion Anderson to make it 14-7 Poly. After those three first touchdown-scoring drives, there was only one other score in the game, a touchdown from Jefferson to Coley just before halftime.
Both teams’ defenses played well in the second half, with Lakewood getting a sack from Marshawn Springer to take Poly out of field goal range, and defensive back/RB Jordan Montgomery breaking up two passes. As well as Lakewood’s defense played though, their offense couldn’t push into Poly territory in the second half, as the Jackrabbits pressured Casillas and shut down the Lancers’ rushing attack.
“We had way too many penalties to start, that first quarter especially,” said Utupo. “We told them at halftime, the only people out here stopping you tonight is yourselves. I was pleased with the way we played soundly in all three phases–there are areas for us to clean up but I’m proud of the way we played and got the win tonight.”
For Poly, Jefferson went 15/25 for 199 yards and two touchdowns.
Poly (3-2, 2-0) will travel to Mission Viejo next week while Lakewood (3-3, 1-1) will face Cabrillo.
