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.
There’s not much that can faze the Long Beach Poly flag football team—from injuries and playing without key players to tough regular-season losses, the Jackrabbits have seen it all.
And with the season on the line through two CIF-SS Division 3 playoff games, those experiences have paid off. The Jackrabbits drew on that experience Saturday night and rose to the occasion in their second-round matchup against Norco, with players stepping up across the board in a dominant 26-7 win.
“It’s special and these girls have really come around,” said Poly coach Rob Shock. “They’ve gone through adversity this year dealing with injuries and players, and we’ve had to rely on different people to step up. Our girls play together and for each other, and that’s what’s been important in these wins.”
For most of the game the Jackrabbits were without two-way standout Ki’ele Ho-Ching, who stopped by between two club softball games to play briefly for a portion midway through. She made an immediate impact with a long touchdown catch, but it was freshman Nevaeh Johnson who stepped up in her absence, hauling in two key touchdowns in the win.
“Since my senior wasn’t here for most of the game, I feel like as a freshman I need to step up when no one else does,” Johnson said after the game. “I just wanted to be there for [quarterback Brooklyn Richardson] to help our offense go down and score.”
“Ki’ele has given them that blueprint of how to play the game,” Shock said of Ho-Ching’s impact on the younger players. “They learn from her and see it when they watch her, so they understand what’s expected of them. She’s left her legacy, and the girls want to play for her because they don’t want to let her down.”
The Poly defense didn’t allow a touchdown until the 1:02 mark of the fourth quarter and leaned on a full team effort to stop the Cougars’ offense. Neela Bagley helped set the tone with an early interception, while Nevaeh Johnson and Amai’a Johnson were great in coverage to help minimize Norco’s passing game.
“I think we just had to work together and work for each other,” Nevaeh said of the defense. “We’re a great team with our togetherness and we try to play with a lot of heart. We take a lot of pride in our defense and we just wanted to stop the ball and give our offense opportunities to score.”
The Jackrabbits had a big day from quarterback Brooklyn Richardson, who finished the night with four total touchdowns. Richardson threw three of them without an interception and added another on the ground.
“I know when it’s time to shine I just need to take it and do what I have to do,” Richardson said. “Whatever we have to do to win, I’m going to do. If I have to put my body on the line for us to win, I’m gonna do it.”
Richardson had a couple of nice early connections with senior Janelle Morris before finding Johnson on the Jackrabbits’ second drive for a 30-yard touchdown strike. Poly got the ball back thanks to Bagley’s interception along the right sideline, then Richardson found Ho-Ching for a 65-yard catch-and-run score.
The Poly defense forced a punt and a turnover on downs on its next two defensive drives, before getting the ball back to the offense with under a minute until halftime. Richardson then led the Jackrabbits down the field, capping a short drive with an acrobatic 20-yard touchdown run to send Poly into the break leading 20-0.
“We’ve been preaching for fast starts and we wanted to continue to keep our foot on the gas,” Shock. “Today that happened, and we were prepared. Our girls stepped up today and they were ready to get this one done.”
Richardson found Johnson in the second half for their second touchdown connection, this time on the left sideline with a nice spinning catch. Norco was able to reply late in the fourth quarter, as senior QB Mya Arriola found Mackensy Dieringer for a touchdown with a minute to play.
The Jackrabbits will host another playoff game on Tuesday in the quarterfinals against Glendora, which defeated fellow Moore League co-champion Millikan in the second round on Saturday. The winner will advance to the semifinals to face either La Serna or Sunny Hills.
“We’re going to celebrate today, but tomorrow we start gameplanning,” Shock said. “We’ll be ready for Tuesday.”
